Legislation

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Advocacy Team in MA

Legislative Advocacy for Protection

In 2013, the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts (WBA) began a legislative initiative that would take seven years to pass and to protect children from FGM/C in Massachusetts. Throughout the years, an informal coalition, including survivors and other advocates from different sectors, came together to prepare for hearings, enlarge public and community support for proposed bills addressing FGM/C, and engage in advocacy inside and outside the Massachusetts State House.

Building Momentum for Change

In 2018, Sahiyo Co-Founder Mariya Taher created a Change.org petition that received over 400,000 signatures advocating for legislation addressing FGM/C.

In 2019, the The U.S. End FGM/C Network, Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA), Tostan, MassNOW, Lesley University, and the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts co-sponsored a Roundtable on FGM/C in Massachusetts. During this event, a collective of almost 60 experts from different disciplines and cultural groups took the first steps to create a ‘Massachusetts End FGM/C Network,’ created to highlight the largely unrecognized global issue of FGM/C and toshare knowledge and resources to help address and support survivors of FGM/C and work towards the prevention of the harmful practice amongst future generations of children in the state.

Bringing Diverse Experts Together

The experts gathered included community leaders, civic society organizations, health professionals, state government officials from the Massachusetts Legislature, the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate, and federal government officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations. 

Ma Resolution Against Fgm (1)

Massachusetts Passes Historic FGM/C Legislation in 2020

Yet, still passage of the FGM/C bills faced many difficult setbacks: legislators were not familiar with FGM/C, advocacy to advance the various bills often became political, and, of course, the pandemic consumed the world. Finally, on August 6, 2020, following seven years of advocacy, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed Bill H4606, “An Act Relative to the Penalties for the Crime of Female Genital Mutilation,” into law, making Massachusetts the 39th state to pass a law prohibiting FGM/C in the United States. The law went into effect 90 days later, on November 6, 2020.

Key Provisions:

Illegal to perform FGM/C on a minor or transport a minor for FGM/C

Custom, ritual, or consent (from minor or parent/guardian) are NOT valid defenses

Medical procedures performed by licensed providers for health preservation or gender reassignment are not prohibited

Imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 5 years, or by a fine of not more than $10,000, and by imprisonment in the house of correction for not more than 2 ½  years

Victims can sue for actual, compensatory, and punitive damages; attorney’s fees and costs shall be awarded; treble damages may be awarded for willful and malicious acts

Victims can file civil lawsuits against perpetrators within 10 years

Calls on mandatory reporters to report suspected cases of FGM/C

Requires the Department of Public Health to develop education programs and train healthcare providers

Requires the Department of Public Health to develop partnerships with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Department of Children and Families, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, the Office of the Attorney General, and other government entities and non-governmental organizations

Massachusetts FGM/C Advocacy Timeline

  • May 2013

    Advocacy efforts for a state-level ban began in Massachusetts, spearheaded by the Women’s Bar Association. This push followed a national report noting that Massachusetts was among the states with the highest number of women and girls at risk of FGM/C.

    December 2015

    The state’s Attorney General, Maura Healey, wrote a letter to the Judiciary Committee in support of proposed legislation to create civil and criminal penalties for FGM/C.

  • May 23, 2018

    Mariya Taher, Co-Founder and U.S. Executive Director of Sahiyo, started a Change.org petition to ban female genital mutilation/cutting in Massachusetts.

    November 20, 2018

    A U.S. District Court judge in Michigan struck down the federal FGM ban, ruling that Congress had exceeded its authority and that such laws should be handled by individual states. This increased the urgency for Massachusetts and other states to pass their own laws.

  • February 26, 2019

    The Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts re-committed to make the bill one of its legislative priorities again in 2019-2020.

    March 2019

    The Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators lists the FGM/C bill as one of their 2019-2020 legislative priorities.

  • 2019

    The bill gained widespread organizational support: a large coalition of nearly 50 organizations pushed for the bill’s passage. In addition to the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, Sahiyo, the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators,  supporters included UNICEF USA, The US End FGM/C Network, AHA Foundation, the state chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and more.

    June 13, 2019

    A roundtable event was held, which included nearly 60 experts from various disciplines. This event was also the first step to officially launching the Massachusetts Coalition to End FGM/C. 

  • September 18, 2019

    300,000 signatures from the change.org petition were delivered to the Massachusetts State House to demonstrate the need and urgency to pass legislation to ban FGM/C in Massachusetts.

    January 16, 2020

    A legislative briefing, sponsored by the Caucus of Women Legislators, was held at the Massachusetts State House. This briefing was an opportunity for the bill sponsors to highlight the importance of the bill, and stories from the Voices to End FGM/C project were featured.

  • 2020

    Legislators who championed the bill included House and Senate sponsors Representative Natalie Higgins, Representative Jay Livingstone, and Senator Joseph Boncore. The legislation gained strong bicameral and bipartisan support, with over 100 co-sponsors in the House and Senate.

    March 8, 2020

    Jennifer Saubermann, President of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts, publishes an op-ed in The Boston Globe in honor of International Women’s Day to express their support for H.4606. 

  • July 16, 2020

    The bill, “An Act Relative to the Penalties for the Crime of Female Genital Mutilation” passed the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

    July 30, 2020

    H.4606, An Act Relative to the Penalties for the Crime of Female Genital Mutilation, passed the MA Senate unanimously. 

    August 6, 2020

    Governor Charlie Baker signs the bill H.4606, An Act Relative to the Penalties for the Crime of Female Genital Mutilation, into law.

  • November 6, 2020

    The law officially goes into effect 90 days after the bill was signed by the Governor.

    June 2025

    The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) announced the 2024 awardees of the Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds (the Funds). Sahiyo, The US End FGM/C Network and UMass Chan Medical School Collaborative in Health Equity are named awardee for a 5 year project to address FGM/C in the state. 

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