A Minnesota lawmaker said Monday that she plans a fresh push next year to strengthen a state law against female genital mutilation in the wake of a judge’s declaration last week that a federal law against the practice is unconstitutional.
Rep. Mary Franson announced her plan Monday after a federal judge in Detroit last week declared the federal law unconstitutional.
Franson, an Alexandria Republican, said Friedman’s ruling underscores the need for her bill, which passed the House 124-4 in 2017, but never got a vote or hearing in the Senate in the 2017 or 2018 sessions. The Michigan case was the impetus for her bill.
“I will never stop fighting for the safety of little girls, and will keep working to put an end to this barbaric practice and punish parents who subject their daughters to these horrors,” she said in a statement.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/11/26/lawmakers-plan-fresh-push-against-female-genital-mutilation