Strengthening the Opposition to Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2020
PL 116-309 (H.R.6100), enacted 01/05/2021

[116th Congress Public Law 309]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



[[Page 4921]]

  STRENGTHENING THE OPPOSITION TO FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION ACT OF 2020

[[Page 134 STAT. 4922]]

Public Law 116-309
116th Congress

                                 An Act


 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify the criminalization of 
   female genital mutilation, and for other purposes. <<NOTE: Jan. 5, 
                         2021 -  [H.R. 6100]>> 

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Strengthening 
the Opposition to Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2020. 18 USC 1 
note.>> 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening the Opposition to 
Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2020'' or the ``STOP FGM Act of 2020''.
SEC. 2. <<NOTE: 18 USC 116 note.>>  CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND 
                    PURPOSE.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Female genital mutilation is recognized internationally 
        as a human rights violation and a form of child abuse, gender 
        discrimination, and violence against women and girls. Female 
        genital mutilation is a global problem whose eradication 
        requires international cooperation and enforcement at the 
        national 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 commission of 
        female genital mutilation on minors. Female genital mutilation 
        is a heinous practice that often inflicts excruciating pain on 
        its victims and causes them to suffer grave physical and 
        psychological harm.
            (3) Congress has the power under article I, section 8 of the 
        Constitution to make all laws which shall be necessary and 
        proper for carrying into execution treaties entered into by the 
        United States.
            (4) Congress also has the power under the Commerce Clause to 
        prohibit female genital mutilation. An international market for 
        the practice exists, and persons who perform female genital 
        mutilation in other countries typically earn a living from doing 
        so.
            (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 interstate 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.

[[Page 134 STAT. 4923]]

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CURRENT LAW ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION.

    Section 116 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

    ``(a) <<NOTE: Penalty.>>  Except as provided in subsection (b), 
whoever, in any circumstance described in subsection (d), knowingly--
            ``(1) performs, attempts to perform, or conspires to perform 
        female genital mutilation on another person who has not attained 
        the age of 18 years;
            ``(2) being the parent, guardian, or caretaker of a person 
        who has not attained the age of 18 years facilitates or consents 
        to the female genital mutilation of such person; or
            ``(3) transports a person who has not attained the age of 18 
        years for the purpose of the performance of female genital 
        mutilation on such person,

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or 
both.'';
            (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

    ``(c) It shall not be a defense to a prosecution under this section 
that female genital mutilation is required as a matter of religion, 
custom, tradition, ritual, or standard practice.'';
            (3) by striking subsection (d); and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:

    ``(d) For the purposes of subsection (a), the circumstances 
described in this subsection are that--
            ``(1) the defendant or victim traveled in interstate or 
        foreign commerce, or traveled using a means, channel, facility, 
        or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce, in 
        furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in 
        subsection (a);
            ``(2) the defendant used a means, channel, facility, or 
        instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in furtherance 
        of or in connection with the conduct described in subsection 
        (a);
            ``(3) any payment of any kind was made, directly or 
        indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct 
        described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, facility, 
        or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce or in or 
        affecting interstate or foreign commerce;
            ``(4) the defendant transmitted in interstate or foreign 
        commerce any communication relating to or in furtherance of the 
        conduct described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, 
        facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce 
        or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce by any means 
        or in manner, including by computer, mail, wire, or 
        electromagnetic transmission;
            ``(5) any instrument, item, substance, or other object that 
        has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to 
        perform the conduct described in subsection (a);
            ``(6) the conduct described in subsection (a) occurred 
        within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction 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 foreign commerce.

    ``(e) <<NOTE: Definition.>>  For purposes of this section, the term 
`female genital mutilation' means any procedure performed for non-
medical reasons

[[Page 134 STAT. 4924]]

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 removal 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 vaginal opening 
        (with or without excision of the clitoris); or
            ``(4) other procedures that are harmful to the external 
        female genitalia, including pricking, incising, scraping, or 
        cauterizing the genital area.''.
SEC. 4. <<NOTE: Consultation. 34 USC 41312.>>  REPORT.

    Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
and annually thereafter, the Attorney General, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Homeland 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) <<NOTE: Estimate.>>  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 protect such women and 
        girls; and
            (3) the actions taken by Federal agencies to educate and 
        assist communities and key stakeholders about female genital 
        mutilation.
SEC. 5. <<NOTE: 18 USC 116 note.>>  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 
genital 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 nature of 
the conduct that this statute regulates. But, by doing so, Congress does 
not hereby ratify the district court's erroneous interpretation in 
Nagarwala.
SEC. 6. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

    The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying with 
the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by 
reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO 
Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the

[[Page 134 STAT. 4925]]

Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, 
provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on 
passage.

    Approved January 5, 2021.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--H.R. 6100:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOUSE REPORTS: No. 116-506 (Comm. on the Judiciary).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 166 (2020):
            Sept. 21, considered and passed House.
            Dec. 15, considered and passed Senate.

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