Excerpt:
A petition to get the Obama administration to commission a report that would update statistics on the prevalence of women subjected to demale genital mutilation (FGM) in the US had collected more than 36,600 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.
Jaha Dukureh, a 24-year-old survivor of FGM, created the petition as a first step in getting the United States to create a comprehensive plan to end FGM and provide services to people who have already been subjected to the practice.
People in every US state have signed the petition, with the most signatures coming from California and New York, said Change.org communications manager Shareeza Bhola.