I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6100 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify the criminalization of 
female genital mutilation, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 5, 2020 
Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself and Mr. BACON) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify the crim-
inalization of female genital mutilation, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening the Op-
position to Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2020’’ or the 
‘‘STOP FGM Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Female genital mutilation is recognized 
internationally as a human rights violation and a 
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form of child abuse, gender discrimination, and vio-
lence against women and girls. Female genital muti-
lation is a global problem whose eradication requires 
international cooperation and enforcement at the na-
tional level. The United States should demonstrate 
its commitment to the rights of women and girls by 
leading the way in the international community in 
banning this abhorrent practice. 
(2) Congress has previously prohibited the com-
mission of female genital mutilation on minors. Fe-
male genital mutilation is a heinous practice that 
often inflicts excruciating pain on its victims and 
causes them to suffer grave physical and psycho-
logical harm. 
(3) Congress has the power under article I, sec-
tion 8 of the Constitution to make all laws which 
shall be necessary and proper for carrying into exe-
cution treaties entered into by the United States. 
(4) Congress also has the power under the 
Commerce Clause to prohibit female genital mutila-
tion. An international market for the practice exists, 
and persons who perform female genital mutilation 
in other countries typically earn a living from doing 
so. 
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(5) Those who perform this conduct often rely 
on a connection to interstate or foreign commerce, 
such as interstate or foreign travel, the transmission 
or receipt of communications in interstate or foreign 
commerce, the use of instruments traded in inter-
state or foreign commerce, or payments of any kind 
in furtherance of this conduct. 
(6) Amending the statute to specify a link to 
interstate or foreign commerce would confirm that 
Congress has the affirmative power to prohibit this 
conduct. 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CURRENT LAW ON FEMALE GEN-
ITAL MUTILATION. 
Section 116 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), whoever, 
in any circumstance described in subsection (d), know-
ingly— 
‘‘(1) performs, attempts to perform, or con-
spires to perform female genital mutilation on an-
other person who has not attained the age of 18 
years; 
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risdiction of the United States, or any territory or 
possession of the United States; or 
‘‘(7) the conduct described in subsection (a) 
otherwise occurred in or affected interstate or for-
eign commerce. 
‘‘(e) For purposes of this section, the term ‘female 
genital mutilation’ means any procedure performed for 
non-medical reasons that involves partial or total removal 
of, or other injury to, the external female genitalia, and 
includes— 
‘‘(1) a clitoridectomy or the partial or total re-
moval of the clitoris or the prepuce or clitoral hood; 
‘‘(2) excision or the partial or total removal 
(with or without excision of the clitoris) of the labia 
minora or the labia majora, or both; 
‘‘(3) infibulation or the narrowing of the vag-
inal opening (with or without excision of the clit-
oris); or 
‘‘(4) other procedures that are harmful to the 
external female genitalia, including pricking, incis-
ing, scraping, or cauterizing the genital area.’’. 
SEC. 4. REPORT. 
Not later than one year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney 
General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland 
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Security, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Health 
and Human Services, and the Secretary of Education, 
shall submit to Congress a report that includes— 
(1) an estimate of the number of women and 
girls in the United States at risk of or who have 
been subjected to female genital mutilation; 
(2) the protections available and actions taken, 
if any, by Federal, State, and local agencies to pro-
tect such women and girls; and 
(3) the actions taken by Federal agencies to 
educate and assist communities and key stake-
holders about female genital mutilation. 
SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of the Congress that the United States 
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan erred 
in invalidating the prior version of such section 116 (See 
United States v. Nagarwala, 350 F. Supp. 3d 613, 631 
(E.D. Mich. 2018)). The commercial nature of female gen-
ital mutilation (hereinafter in this section referred to as 
‘‘FGM’’) is ‘‘self-evident,’’ meaning that the ‘‘absence of 
particularized findings’’ about the commercial nature of 
FGM in the predecessor statute did not ‘‘call into question 
Congress’s authority to legislate’’ (Gonzales v. Raich, 545 
U.S. 1, 21 (2005)). Nevertheless, the Congress has elected 
to amend the FGM statute to clarify the commercial na-
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ture of the conduct that this statute regulates. But, by 
doing so, Congress does not hereby ratify the district 
court’s erroneous interpretation in Nagarwala. 
Æ 
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