Editing Female genital mutilation (section)

====North America====
{{Further|Female genital mutilation in the United States}}
In the United States, an estimated 513,000 women and girls had experienced FGM or were at risk as of 2012.<ref name=CDC2016>[http://www.publichealthreports.org/documents/fgmutilation.pdf "Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in the United States: Updated Estimates of Women and Girls at Risk, 2012"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171221153549/http://www.publichealthreports.org/documents/fgmutilation.pdf |date=21 December 2017 }}. ''Public Health Reports''. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. March–April 2016, 131.</ref><ref>Turkewitz, Julie (6 February 2015). [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/us/genital-cutting-cases-seen-more-as-immigration-rises.html "Effects of Ancient Custom Present New Challenge to U.S. Doctors: Genital Cutting Cases Seen More as Immigration Rises"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131004639/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/us/genital-cutting-cases-seen-more-as-immigration-rises.html |date=31 January 2018 }}. ''The New York Times''.</ref>{{efn|The Centers for Disease Control's previous estimate was 168,000 as of 1990.{{sfn|Jones|Smith|Kieke|Wilcox|1997|loc=372}}}} A Nigerian woman successfully contested deportation in March 1994, asking for "cultural asylum" on the grounds that her young daughters (who were American citizens) might be cut if she took them to Nigeria,<ref>Rudloff, Patricia Dysart (1995). [https://web.archive.org/web/20010220043053/http://www.law-lib.utoronto.ca/Diana/fulltext/rudl.htm "In Re: Oluloro: Risk of female genital mutilation as 'extreme hardship' in immigration proceedings"]. ''Saint Mary's Law Journal'', 877.{{pb}}
{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/04/us/an-ancient-ritual-and-a-mother-s-asylum-plea.html|title=An Ancient Ritual and a Mother's Asylum Plea|last=Egan|first=Timothy|date=4 March 1994|work=The New York Times|access-date=28 November 2019|archive-date=3 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903094757/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/04/us/an-ancient-ritual-and-a-mother-s-asylum-plea.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 1996 [[Matter of Kasinga|Fauziya Kasinga]] from [[Togo]] became the first to be officially granted asylum to escape FGM.<ref>Dugger, Celia W. (16 June 1996). [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E1DB1439F935A25755C0A960958260 "June 9–15; Asylum From Mutilation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621232551/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html%3Fres%3D9C05E1DB1439F935A25755C0A960958260 |date=21 June 2020 }}. ''The New York Times''.{{pb}}
[https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2000/03/28/kasinga7.pdf "In re Fauziya KASINGA, file A73 476 695"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304040921/https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2000/03/28/kasinga7.pdf |date=4 March 2017 }}. U.S. Department of Justice. Executive Office for Immigration Review, decided 13 June 1996.</ref> In 1996 the Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act made it illegal to perform FGM on minors for non-medical reasons, and in 2013 the Transport for Female Genital Mutilation Act prohibited transporting a minor out of the country for the purpose of FGM.<ref name=CDC2016/>{{rp|2}} The first FGM conviction in the US was in 2006, when [[Khalid Adem]], who had emigrated from Ethiopia, was sentenced to ten years for aggravated battery and cruelty to children after severing his two-year-old daughter's clitoris with a pair of scissors.<ref>[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-01-georgia_x.htm "Man gets 10-year sentence for circumcision of 2-year-old daughter"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902134855/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-01-georgia_x.htm |date=2 September 2017 }}. Associated Press, 1 November 2006.</ref> A federal judge ruled in 2018 that the 1996 Act was unconstitutional, arguing that FGM is a "local criminal activity" that should be regulated by states.<ref name=Schmidt21Nov2018>Schmidt, Samantha (21 November 2018). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/judge-rules-that-federal-law-banning-female-genital-mutilation-is-unconstitutional/2018/11/21/a9455728-edd2-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html "Judge rules that federal law banning female genital mutilation is unconstitutional"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820223532/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/judge-rules-that-federal-law-banning-female-genital-mutilation-is-unconstitutional/2018/11/21/a9455728-edd2-11e8-96d4-0d23f2aaad09_story.html |date=20 August 2020 }}. ''The Washington Post''.</ref>{{efn|The judge made his ruling during a case against members of the [[Dawoodi Bohra]] community in Michigan accused of carrying out FGM.<ref name=Schmidt21Nov2018/>}} Twenty-four states had legislation banning FGM as of 2016,<ref name=CDC2016/>{{rp|2}} and in 2021 the STOP FGM Act of 2020 was signed into federal law.<ref>Batha, Emma (7 January 2021). [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-law-fgm/us-toughens-ban-on-abhorrent-female-genital-mutilation-idUSKBN29C2OF "U.S. toughens ban on 'abhorrent' female genital mutilation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108140215/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-law-fgm/us-toughens-ban-on-abhorrent-female-genital-mutilation-idUSKBN29C2OF |date=8 January 2021 }}. Reuters.</ref> The [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] opposes all forms of the practice, including pricking the clitoral skin.{{efn|In 2010 the American Academy of Pediatrics suggested that "pricking or incising the clitoral skin" was a harmless procedure that might satisfy parents, but it withdrew the statement after complaints.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Female Genital Mutilation|journal=Pediatrics|volume=102|issue=1|date=1 July 1998|pages=153–156|doi=10.1542/peds.102.1.153|pmid=9651425|doi-access=free}}{{pb}}
Withdrawn policy: {{cite journal|title=Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors|journal=Pediatrics|volume=125|issue=5|date=1 May 2010|pages=1088–1093|pmid=20421257|doi=10.1542/peds.2010-0187|doi-access=free|author1=American Academy of Pediatrics Board of Directors}}{{pb}}
Pam Belluck, [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html "Group Backs Ritual 'Nick' as Female Circumcision Option"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118095546/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220102/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/health/policy/07cuts.html |archive-date=2022-01-02 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |date=18 January 2018 }}{{cbignore}}, ''The New York Times'', 6 May 2010.</ref>}}

Canada recognized FGM as a form of persecution in July 1994, when it granted refugee status to Khadra Hassan Farah, who had fled Somalia to avoid her daughter being cut.<ref name=Farnsworth1994>Farnsworth, Clyde H. (21 July 1994). [https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/21/world/canada-gives-somali-mother-refugee-status.html "Canada Gives Somali Mother Refugee Status"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813224305/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/21/world/canada-gives-somali-mother-refugee-status.html |date=13 August 2017 }}. ''The New York Times''.</ref> In 1997 section 268 of its ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]'' was amended to ban FGM, except where "the person is at least eighteen years of age and there is no resulting bodily harm".<ref>[http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-268.html Section 268] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502191321/https://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Documents/ReviewofAustraliasfemalegenitalmutilationlegalframework/Review%20of%20Australias%20female%20genital%20mutilation%20legal%20framework.pdf |date=2 May 2019 }}. Criminal Code of Canada.</ref><ref name=UNICEF2013p8/> {{As of|2019|2}}, there had been no prosecutions. Officials have expressed concern that thousands of Canadian girls are at risk of being taken overseas to undergo the procedure, so-called "vacation cutting".<ref>Portenier, Giselle (6 February 2019). [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-when-will-canada-take-action-for-girls-who-endure-fgm/ "When will Canada take action for girls who endure FGM?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202074503/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-when-will-canada-take-action-for-girls-who-endure-fgm/ |date=2 December 2020 }}. ''The Globe and Mail''.</ref>