Assistant Attorney General Stephen E. Boyd issued the following statement:
“Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a form of gender-based violence and child abuse that harms victims not only when they are girls, suffering the immediate trauma of the act, but also throughout their lives as women, when it often results in a range of physical and psychological harms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that half a million women and girls in the United States have already suffered FGM or are at risk for being subjected to FGM in the future.