Sheila Jackson Lee's latest stance is against female genital mutilation

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's past stances have not come without controversy. See some of her most controversial comments and stances. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's past stances have not come without controversy. See some of her most controversial comments and stances. Image 1 of / 56 Caption Close Sheila Jackson Lee's latest stance is against female genital mutilation 1 / 56 Back to Gallery

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston has publicly come forward with a fellow house representative to denounce female genital mutilation and so-called "vacation cutting season" in the hopes of getting President Barack Obama and federal agencies to take steps to fight the practice here and abroad.



In a press statement released on Thursday, the congresswoman thanked U.S. Representative Joe Crowley (D-NY), female genital mutilation survivor and activist Jaha Dukureh, plus international human rights organization Equality Now for devising this new call to action.

Dukureh tells her story of being mutilated as an infant in Gambia, finally making it to the United States at the age of 15 just a decade ago. She escaped a forced marriage there and fled to Atlanta where she currently resides.

"It took away a part of my femininity, my ownership to my body. Some girls, including my half-sister who died from complications from being cut, even lose their lives," she writes in the materials for the Change.org petition to draw up an updated prevalence report on FGM in this country.

That petition now has just over 205,000 virtual signatures.

Female genital mutilation is illegal in the United States. Under the Girls Protection Act of 2011, it was made a federal crime to transportAmerican girls overseas for the purpose of FGM. The United Nations General Assembly has already deemed it a violation of human rights as well.



According to the press release, “vacation cutting season" comes in the summer when girls are usually on break from American schools and are sent to other countries to undergo FGM to adhere to cultural norms.



What Jackson, Crowley and 58 members of the U.S. House are calling for from top officials at the Departments of Justice, State, Health & Human Services, and Education, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the White House Office of Management and Budget is for a cross-agency plan to further fight FGM. This would include funding for resources to help law enforcement, health workers, and educators detect the practice here in this country, plus a hotline for girls who may be in danger of mutilation.



The goal of all involved, stated in the press release, is to eradicate the practice globally.



According to a World Health Organization fact sheet on the practice, FGM procedures intentionally alter or cause injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. There are no health benefits, regarding FGM, only harm.



FGM is typically carried out on girls and women between the ages of just a few months to the age of 15. According to WHO, over 125 million girls and women alive today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and Middle East where FGM is concentrated. The practice can cause numerous problems down the line for the victims, including severe bleeding, problems urinating, and infections and cysts. Some can even become infertile or have a risk of high infant mortality.



“By creating a national strategy, the U.S. would join the ranks of countries like the United Kingdom and Italy that, over the past decade, have begun adopting and supporting vigorous, pro-active practices to help end FGM," Lee said in the press release.