Latest news with #FGM
Zawya
a day ago
- Politics
- Zawya
Eritrea: Nakfa Sub-Zone Declares Free of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
As a result of a rigorous awareness campaign to eradicate harmful practices, Nakfa sub-zone has officially declared itself free of female genital mutilation (FGM). At the declaration event, Mr. Yakob Idris, administrator of the sub-zone, stated that the achievement is the result of the active and conscious participation of the public, government institutions, and national associations. He emphasized that maintaining this status is a shared responsibility. Religious leaders, noting that FGM has no connection to religious teachings, commended the initiative and called for integrated efforts and participation to ensure its sustainability. Mr. Rezene Feseha, chairman of the committee for the rights of children and women, said the declaration in Nakfa sub-zone reflects the coordinated efforts conducted at the regional level and called for continued active involvement by all. The event featured cultural and artistic performances to mark the occasion. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Information, Eritrea.
Fox News
10-07-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Trump's Justice Department targets doctors, clinics who provide sex change procedures to minors
The Justice Department on Wednesday said it has subpoenaed more than 20 doctors and clinics that are involved in providing minors with sex change procedures. The agency is investigating healthcare fraud, false statements and more, it said. "Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. The DOJ did not disclose which doctors or clinics have been served with subpoenas. In April, Bondi issued a memo stating that the DOJ would be investigating and prosecuting those who offer sex change treatments for minors. Bondi said she was instructing all U.S. attorneys to investigate all suspected cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) under the "banner of so-called 'gender-affirming care'" and to "prosecute all FGM offenses to the fullest extent possible." Bondi also ordered the DOJ's Civil Division's Consumer Protection Branch to investigate manufacturers and distributors engaged in misbranding by making false claims about the on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones or any other drug used to facilitate a child's sex change. In the first days of his second administration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring the federal government from funding, sponsoring, promoting, assisting or supporting sex changes for children. The order also pledged to rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit the procedures on minors. "Across the country today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child's sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions," the order states. "This dangerous trend will be a stain on our Nation's history, and it must end." In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a Tennessee law banning specific transgender medical treatments for adolescents in the state is not discriminatory.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
DoJ subpoenas more than 20 clinics and doctors who offer gender-affirming care to minors
The US Department of Justice said on Wednesday it had sent more than 20 subpoenas to clinics and doctors who offer gender-affirming care to minors. It was not immediately clear to whom the requests were sent and the kind of information that was requested. The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, issued a memo on 22 April saying the justice department would investigate and prosecute those who were providing transgender care to children. The memo instructed federal prosecutors 'to investigate all suspected cases of [female genital mutilation] – under the banner of so-called 'gender-affirming care' or otherwise-and to prosecute all FGM offenses to the fullest extent possible'. Several medical associations have said that transgender care can provide lifesaving treatment for both children and adults, the Guardian has reported. A 2022 study by researchers at Stanford University found better mental health outcomes for transgender people who started receiving hormone therapy as teens compared with those who waited until they were adults. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Bondi's April memo said the department would investigate manufacturers and distributors engaged in misbranding by making false claims about the on- or off-label use of puberty blockers, sex hormones or any other drug used to facilitate a child's gender transition. The department has yet to file charges against anyone in connection with providing transgender care. Nonetheless, the point of the investigation may be to intimidate those who provide care from doing so. 'It's meant to have a chilling effect on physicians providing access to necessary care, fearing that it will be characterized as chemical and surgical mutilation of children,' Robin Maril, a law professor at Willamette University, told NBC News in April. In a 6-3 decision last month, the US supreme court upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors. In total, 27 states have laws that limit gender-affirming care for minors, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Fox News
24-06-2025
- Health
- Fox News
FBI launches probes into 3 children's hospitals for alleged genital mutilation of minors
FIRST ON FOX: The FBI has initiated criminal investigations of three children's hospitals after commitments from Attorney General Pam Bondi that the Trump administration would enforce federal statutes outlawing female genital mutilation to protect children from often irreversible sex-change surgeries. The investigations target providers who work at Boston Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado and Children's Hospital Los Angeles, according to a source familiar with the investigation who spoke to Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity. These hospitals have been among some of the foremost providers of sex change procedures for minors in America over the last several years, according to the source. Just days after taking office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing all federal agencies to work toward terminating the ability for children under 18 to receive "irreversible medical interventions" as a treatment for gender dysphoria. Part of that effort included Attorney General Bondi issuing a memorandum several weeks later, directing Justice Department personnel to enforce 18 U.S.C. § 116, which is a federal statute that makes female genital mutilation against the law. "I am putting medical practitioners, hospitals and clinics on notice: In the United States, it is a felony to perform, attempt to perform or conspire to perform female genital mutilation ("FGM") on any person under the age of 18," Bondi's memo said. "That crime carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years per count. I am directing all U.S. Attorneys to investigate all suspected cases of FGM — under the banner of so-called 'gender-affirming care' or otherwise — and to prosecute all FGM offenses to the fullest extent possible." Bondi also said in the memo that the Justice Department would be launching a new Coalition Against Child Mutilation, which will partner with state attorneys general to build cases against hospitals and practitioners violating federal or state laws banning female genital mutilation. The memo added that the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs is drafting legislation establishing a private right of action for children and parents of children "whose healthy body parts have been damaged by medical professionals through chemical and surgical mutilation" so they can hold hospitals and providers retroactively liable. Amid the Trump administration's focus on banning irreversible transgender medical treatments for minors, numerous hospitals have amended their policies for who can obtain gender transition treatments and surgeries. Earlier this month, Children's Hospital Los Angeles announced it would permanently close its Center for Transyouth Health and Development, effective July 22, 2025. The decision was attributed to "significant operational, legal and financial risks stemming from the shifting policy landscape at both the state and federal levels," according to CBS News. Children's Hospital Los Angeles did not respond to Fox News Digital's repeated requests for comment. Children's Hospital Colorado initially suspended its transgender medical treatments for patients under 19 in response to the president's executive order directing hospitals to halt irreversible transgender treatments for minors. But after a judge's ruling blocking Trump's order, the hospital announced it would resume providing puberty blockers and hormone-based treatments to minors. In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Children's Hospital Colorado noted that it has "never" provided transgender surgeries for those under 18, adding that, two years ago, the hospital stopped providing these surgeries for patients over 18. Instead, starting in 2023, the hospital decided to begin referring patients to outside providers for such services, according to Colorado Newsline. Boston Children's Hospital continues to operate its Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS) program, according to publicly available information. While the hospital only provides gender-change surgeries for patients over 18, its GeMS program does offer transgender hormone therapy, puberty blockers and social transitioning for patients under 18. It also provides referrals for gender-transition surgeries to minors as well. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Boston Children's said it had not yet received any notice from the FBI regarding alleged violations of federal law. The FBI said that, as a matter of policy, it "declines to confirm or comment on investigations."
Boston Globe
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
The unlikely defenders of girls facing genital mutilation in Kenya
For generations, morans have been champions of tradition in Samburu culture: guardians of community honor, masculine ideals, and long-held customs. Among the customs they are responsible for upholding is female genital mutilation (FGM) — a Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up 'I've seen what it does to our sisters,' says James Lelelit, 28, a former enforcer of the tradition turned anti-FGM activist. 'They bleed. They suffer infections. They drop out of school. Some never recover. I couldn't stay silent anymore.' Advertisement What makes this movement extraordinary is that it is not the result of outside pressure. It is coming from within the heart of the community. What's emerging in Samburu is not only an effort to champion women's rights and health, but a redefinition of masculinity. For young men raised to measure their worth by dominance and tradition, embracing compassion is no small feat. Advertisement In the past, anti-FGM messages often came from outsiders and were met with resistance. But today, morans are leading the conversations. They are young men who have seen firsthand the pain FGM causes their sisters and classmates. They are part of a generation more exposed to education, mobile technology, and evolving ideas about human rights. Crucially, they frame their opposition to FGM not as a rejection of traditional culture but as a way to protect it. The hope is that this insider-led movement — in which warriors are speaking out and families are listening — will continue to grow. The transformation is fragile, but if sustained, it could mark a turning point not just for Samburu but for other communities where the custom remains entrenched. FGM is illegal in Kenya, yet it continues in rural communities where government enforcement is weak and old customs remain deeply ingrained. In Samburu County, nearly From warrior to defender In a region where tradition often outweighs legislation, the morans are making all the difference. 'Everything changed when we started talking to the warriors,' says Samuel Leadismo, a Samburu warrior, founder of the Pastoralist Child Foundation, and former enforcer of FGM. Leadismo's transformation into a defender of girls' rights began after he attended a community training by a local NGO that challenged old beliefs about FGM. It wasn't the facts alone that shifted his views but the girls' and women's harrowing testimonies. The knowledge hit differently because it came from people he trusted and because the people at the training asked him to reconsider what it truly meant to be a protector. Advertisement Today, he works to convince other young Samburu warriors that they have the power to end the practice. 'Morans have influence,' he says. 'If they decide to marry only girls who are not cut, everything changes.' Indeed, this redefinition of masculinity — from enforcing harmful tradition to defending girls' bodies and futures — is what makes the movement so powerful. In a community where identity is rooted in heritage, warriors like Leadismo are showing that honoring culture can involve change. Rather than rejecting tradition outright, they are reframing it — turning strength into advocacy and authority into protection. Their new stance has already had an effect. Families are increasingly choosing to let their daughters go through alternative rites of passage, including community-led ceremonies that celebrate a girl's coming of age without FGM. According to the Pastoralist Child Foundation, thousands of girls in the region have undergone these alternative rites of passage and remained in school. Joy Lemasian, 17, remembers the day she told her father she did not want to be cut. 'He looked angry at first,' she recalls. 'But then my uncle, a moran, told him, 'The world is changing. Let her go to school.' That saved me.' Lemasian now dreams of becoming a teacher. Her story is becoming more common, but she knows the danger hasn't disappeared. 'Some girls are still cut in secret,' she says softly. 'But now, at least we have people to talk to. People who believe in us.' The morans occupy a unique space between the elders, who are often guardians of tradition, and the youth, who are hungry for change. Their voices carry weight in a society where age and gender roles are tightly defined. Advertisement Even some elders are beginning to come around. 'At first, I thought the boys were being disrespectful,' says Moses Lekilelei, a village elder in the town of Archers Post. 'But then I listened. They are not rejecting our culture. They are saving our daughters.' Yet there has been backlash. In some villages, morans who speak out have faced threats or been ostracized. 'We were told we were no longer real men,' says Peter Loeku, 26. 'But I asked them — how is a real man one who causes harm to a child?' Loeku admits the fight is slow. 'We need more schools, more role models. And we need to stop pretending this is just a women's issue. It affects all of us.' Internationally, the story is being watched closely. The United Nations Population Fund warns that without faster progress, up to 89 million girls could still be at risk of FGM by 2030. Samburu's example offers hope. 'Being a moran used to mean strength, pride, silence,' says Lelelit. 'Now it means asking questions. It means choosing what kind of man you want to be.' As the sun sets over the hills, the gathered morans in Samburu rise to leave. One of them ties his red cloth tighter around his waist and turns to speak. 'We are still warriors,' he says, smiling. 'But now we fight for something better.'
