Democrats in Minnesota and Maine have stymied legislative attempts to outright prohibit the practice of female genital mutilation from going forth in their states — a move that puts them on the side of Islamic savages who perform the barbaric operations in fulfilment of their faith.

In Minnesota, a bill that would have outlawed the practice died in the Senate, where Democrats dominate. And in Maine, a similar bill died a similar death — again, all due to Dems.

Shouldn’t this ban be an issue that unites those of all political backgrounds and affiliations?

You’d think,

WND has more:

In Minnesota, a bill that would ban the practice, known as “female circumcision” in places such as Somalia, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen and elsewhere in the Third World, was passed overwhelmingly in the House but died in the Senate.

Now in Maine, a similar bill, LD 745, is being put up for a second vote in the state house after failing in late June. The state Senate passed the bill but the House rejected it, forcing another vote on an amended bill set for July 20.

In both states, it is primarily progressive Democrats pushing back against the criminalization of FGM. Many have even refrained from calling the practice what it is – female genital mutilation – opting for the more sanitized “genital cutting” or “female circumcision.”

The issue of FGM has been front and center since two doctors – Fakhruddin Attar and Jumana Nagarwala – were arrested in April in the Detroit area and charged with mutilating the genitals of two 7-year-old Somali girls, who were delivered to the doctors by their parents in Minnesota.

In the Detroit case, the attorney for Nagarwala has already announced she will argue her client’s case on the basis of religious freedom – that it is her client’s right to carry out the procedure on little girls because it is part of their religious beliefs and, therefore, protected by the First Amendment.

Federal prosecutors have said the two young Somali victims represent the “tip of the iceberg” and that upward of 100 girls have likely been victimized by the two Detroit doctors.

“This reminds me of how quickly we lost the same-sex marriage issue,” observed former Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann. “We had a tiny window of opportunity to pass legislation on same-sex marriage, but society changed so quickly and accommodated what was always considered as wrong. As hard as it is to believe, people could be deluded by this argument [of religious freedom to perform FGM]. Legislators need to work fast.”

Democratic lawmakers are waffling on voting for the bill, many of them caving to pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has come out against anti-FGM bills in several states, including the one in Maine.

While the ACLU does “not support the practice of FGM, we do not believe that a criminal approach in Maine will contribute to any legitimate efforts to eradicate the practice,” said Oamshri Amarasingham in testifying before the state legislature’s Committee of Criminal Justice and Public Safety.

Sirocki and the bill’s other supporters are urging all Maine residents to contact their state lawmakers and urge them to vote “yes” on L.D. 745, for women and girls and against the ACLU.

The Detroit case is the first ever prosecuted under a 1996 federal law against female genital mutilation.

More than 513,000 girls and young women are at risk of FGM in the United States, almost all of them from immigrant families who entered the country from Third World, mostly Muslim nations such as Somalia, Sudan and Afghanistan. …

Maine is considered one of eight high-risk states because, like Minnesota and Ohio, it has a high concentration of Somali refugees. More than 99 percent of women in Somalia had their genitals mutilated by the time they are married.

Maine’s bill would criminalize FGM, making it a class-B felony to perform the procedure on someone under 18. It would also allow their parents or guardians to face child-cruelty charges.

Unlike male circumcision, there are no health or hygiene reasons for removing all or part of a girl’s genitalia, said the Maine bill’s sponsor, Rep. Heather Sirocki.

“There are absolutely no medical benefits at all to this type of procedure, and it is not similar to male circumcision,” said Sirocki.

She said Maine is a high-risk state, with MaineCare billing last year showing eight instances of providers treating problems resulting from FGM, such as infections and problems with urination, menstruation or sexual intercourse.

“The specific law is wanted by the Maine Prosecutors Association because there was some ambiguity around this and there was a case that failed on appeal because it was not specific enough,” said Sirocki. “The prosecutors really feel they need that clarity to specifically prohibit this and that’s what they’re asking for.”

The vote on legislation that would make female genital mutilation in Maine a crime could happen as early as July 20. Maine residents are being urged to contact their representatives in Augusta and press them to pass the bill to protect girls and women from the practice.

Sirocki said the state Senate has indicated it will amend the bill once more, then the House could bring a vote forward next week.