SB 1438, An Act Prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation

TESTIMONY OF THE CONNECTICUT HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION
SUBMITTED TO THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Monday, March 24, 2025

The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) appreciates this opportunity to submit testimony concerning SB 1438, An Act Prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation. CHA has concerns about the bill as written.

Connecticut hospitals and health systems care for patients, strengthen the state’s economy, and support vulnerable communities across the state. Every day, they work to improve healthcare access, affordability, and health equity. Even as they face ongoing challenges, hospitals provide world-class care to everyone who walks through their doors, regardless of their ability to pay. Hospitals also support an exemplary workforce as the largest collective employer in the state, contribute significantly to the state’s economy, and invest in their communities addressing social drivers of health.

SB 1438 seeks to make it a crime if a person “knowingly circumcises, excises or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of a person under eighteen years of age.” The only exceptions are if the procedure is “necessary to the health of the person on whom it is performed” or “performed on a person in labor or who has just given birth for a medical purpose related to such labor or birth,” and only when performed by specified medical professionals. The bill goes on to clarify that the underlying medical purpose cannot be based on a belief that “such operation is required as a matter of custom or ritual.”

CHA acknowledges that there are children who are forced to undergo ritual or custom-based unnecessary genital female mutilation “operations” and that the bill’s intent is to protect those children. CHA supports that goal.

But we are concerned the bill’s exceptions are insufficiently broad, resulting in a risk that the bill, if passed into law, would be used to prohibit or dissuade gender-affirming treatments, or other reasonable medical treatments, because those procedures may not be deemed “necessary” for the health of the person. In the current environment, where anticipated edicts from the federal government are likely to declare gender-affirming care not only unnecessary but unavailable, it is incumbent on the legislature to avoid unintended consequences that could result from SB 1438.

We ask that either the bill not move forward, or if the bill progresses, the language be revised so there is a reduced risk of interference with medical care while banning barbaric rituals or custom-based mutilation.

For example, the bill could simply state:

“No person shall perform ritual or custom-based mutilation of the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of a person under eighteen years of age. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to prohibit medical procedures when performed by a licensed healthcare professional acting within the scope of their profession.”

Thank you for your consideration of our position. For additional information, contact CHA Government Relations at (203) 294-7301.