SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

SENATE, No. 1865

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: MARCH 20, 1997

 

      The Senate Health Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 1865.

      This bill, which is modeled after the "Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1996," prohibits the practice of female genital mutilation on females under the age of 18 in New Jersey.

      The bill provides that any person who knowingly circumcises, excises or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia major or labia minor or clitoris of a female under 18 years of age, is guilty of a crime of the fourth degree (which provides for up to 18 months in prison and a fine of up to $7,500).

       The provisions of the bill shall not apply if the circumcision, excision or infibulation is:

      (1) necessary to the health of the female on whom it is performed and it is performed by a licensed health care professional acting within the scope of the professional's license, provided that no account shall be taken of the effect on the female on whom the procedure is to be performed of any belief on the part of that female or any other person that the procedure is required as a matter of custom or ritual; or

      (2) performed on a female in labor or who has just given birth and is performed for medical purposes connected with that labor or birth by a licensed health care professional acting within the scope of the professional's license or by a person in training to become such a licensed health care professional.

      The bill further provides that any person who knowingly denies to any person medical care or services or otherwise discriminates against any person in the provision of medical care or services because that person has undergone female circumcision, excision or infibulation, or that person has requested that female circumcision, excision or infibulation be performed on any person, is guilty of a disorderly persons offense (which provides for up to six months in prison and a fine of up to $1,000).

      The practice of female genital mutilation is carried out by members of certain cultural and religious groups in the United States and is typically performed on females at the age of seven. The procedure often results in the occurrence of physical and psychological health


effects that harm the female involved. According to the American Medical Association, the international medical community as a whole agrees that female genital mutilation has no medical value and can only create opportunities for medical complications.