Excerpt:
Re: “Greg Kesich: Gov. LePage dreams up phony problem when state has real ones to solve” (March 7): When a Maine resident asked me to submit legislation to prohibit the secretive cutting ritual known as female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), I discovered that this horrific form of child abuse is on the rise and is an issue in our state. In 2013, the Population Reference Bureau stunningly identified almost 400 at-risk girls under the age of 18 in Maine.
In 2016, the Maine Access Immigrant Network was selected as one of only eight states to share a $6 million federal grant by the U.S. DHHS’ Office on Women’s Health to prevent FGM and to help survivors living in the U.S.