Today, I once again joined advocates, survivors, legislative colleagues, and advocates from Sahiyo and CWCSEO for a panel discussion to call for an end to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/c) and to announce our intention to introduce legislation to ban the practice in Connecticut.

Female genital mutilation is usually carried out on prepubescent girls and involves the cutting and sometimes partial removal of a girl’s genitals, including excising of the clitoris. The immediate complications can include bleeding, infection and even death. Potential long-term complications include complications in childbirth, UTIs, scarring, hepatitis, HIV, and depression. If the clitoris is excised, a woman’s ability to experience sexual pleasure can also be permanently diminished.

As the Ranking Member of the Public Health Committee, I am once again calling on my colleagues to put an end to this practice in our state and to further enshrine protections for vulnerable women into state law. We must, and can, do more to protect women.

The world health organization says FGM/c is recognized internationally as a violation of human rights and reflects deep rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against girls and women. While FGM/c is traditional in some cultures experts say there are no medical benefits to this procedure.

Female Genital Mutilation/cutting is currently illegal in 41 states.