[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 163 (Friday, October 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1988]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     LEGISLATION MAKING FGM ILLEGAL

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                        HON. PATRICIA SCHROEDER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 19, 1995

  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I was glad to hear that the Senate has 
approved legislation making female genital mutilation illegal and 
implementing education and outreach efforts to stop its practice in 
this country. I commend Senator Reid for attaching his bill, which is a 
companion to mine, to the foreign operations appropriations bill that 
the Senate passed on September 21. The House passed its foreign 
operations bill on July 11 without a similar provision and now it is up 
to the conference committee to preserve the Senate language of FGM.
  I have spoken on this floor many times regarding FGM, and some States 
are now passing or considering their own legislation to ban it. The 
problem in this Congress seems to be that Members still do not believe 
that such a brutal procedure happens in this country, something my bill 
and Senator Reid's would seek to correct. Lest there be any doubt that 
it does happen here, I refer Members to the October Atlantic Monthly, 
which features an article by Linda Burstyn about the efforts of 
activist Mimi Ramsey to end FGM in this country.

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