Lawmakers in Lansing are just a vote away from sending a bills package outlawing female genital mutilation to the governor.
Most of the bills need one final vote before sending them off to the governor. The package would make female genital mutilation a 15-year felony along with other potential punishments and create an education outreach program.
Republican Representative Klint Kesto is a bill sponsor.
“We don’t want to be known as the place you come for female genital mutilation. Absolutely not. We will not tolerate it. So we want to be stricter, we want to be tougher on this kind of activity.”
Kesto chairs the House Committee on Law and Justice. He says the over a dozen bills attack the issue from multiple angles.
“There’s a lot of passion from many members both in the House and Senate that want to be involved and want to make sure that when we talk about female genital mutilation that it does not happen.”
Republican Representative Martin Howrylak says no one thinks female genital mutilation is a good thing. But the bills may not be specific enough.
“The concern about families maybe avoiding medical care for fear of being penalized and having their kids taken away and possibly being deported for something that, again, where they grew up was a way of life and they didn’t know anything else.”
A spokesperson for Speaker of the House Tom Leonard says they plan to wrap up the bills next week.
