Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting in the United States: Updated Estimates of Women and Girls at Risk, 2012
OBJECTIVES:
In
1996, the U.S. Congress passed legislation making female genital
mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) illegal in the United States. CDC published the
first estimates of the number of women and girls at risk for FGM/C in 1997.
Since 2012, various constituencies have again raised concerns about the
practice in the United States. We updated an earlier estimate of the number of
women and girls in the United States who were at risk for FGM/C or its
consequences.
METHODS:
We
estimated the number of women and girls who were at risk for undergoing FGM/C
or its consequences in 2012 by applying country-specific prevalence of FGM/C to
the estimated number of women and girls living in the United States who were
born in that country or who lived with a parent born in that country.
RESULTS:
Approximately
513,000 women and girls in the United States were at risk for FGM/C or its
consequences in 2012, which was more than three times higher than the earlier
estimate, based on 1990 data. The increase in the number of women and girls
younger than 18 years of age at risk for FGM/C was more than four times that of
previous estimates.
CONCLUSION:
The
estimated increase was wholly a result of rapid growth in the number of
immigrants from FGM/C-practicing countries living in the United States and not
from increases in FGM/C prevalence in those countries. Scientifically valid
information regarding whether women or their daughters have actually undergone
FGM/C and related information that can contribute to efforts to prevent the
practice in the United States and provide needed health services to women who
have undergone FGM/C are needed.
- 1Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Reproductive Health, Atlanta, GA.
- Public Health Rep. 2016 Mar-Apr;131(2):340-7.
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