By: Juliet Shires

At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, passing a bill in Connecticut (CT) protecting children from female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) seemed promising. “An Act Prohibiting Female Genital Mutilation” (SB 1438) marked the first time a bill was raised in the past five years of advocacy by the Connecticut Coalition to End FGM/C.  

The Coalition held a legislative briefing in January 2025 and a press conference in February 2025 to build momentum and support for the bill, and it was proving successful as it attracted media attention. After a public hearing in March 2025, in which numerous advocates from the CT Coalition testified, the Joint Committee on Judiciary approved the bill 41-0, advancing it to the full Senate floor for a vote. In April, the bill was amended and referred to the Office of Legislative Research and the Office of Fiscal Analysis.  While the revised version did not contain provisions for education and civil remedies for survivors, it did establish strict criminalization of FGM/C. 

Despite this progress, the bill ultimately stalled. On June 4, the last day of the Connecticut legislative session, the Connecticut State Senate failed again to further the bill for a vote on the full Senate floor. 

Several factors contributed to its failure. The state’s budget and the large number of overall bills proposed during this legislative session likely played a role. Another challenge is the false conflation between the issue of FGM/C and gender-affirming care. Legislators let Coalition members know they had concerns that a bill on FGM/C would be used to ban gender-affirming care for minors, a pattern already seen with federal bill H.R. 3492. Advocates are working to clearly distinguish between the two issues: gender-affirming care is necessary and life-saving, while FGM/C is medically unnecessary, a human rights violation, and poses no health benefits, only negative health consequences. 

Still, important groundwork was laid during this 2025 legislative session, and advocacy efforts will continue between legislative sessions to keep the issue at the top of mind for legislators. 

Sahiyo, as a member of the Connecticut Coalition, remains committed to creating a state law in Connecticut in the next legislative session – one that adopts a holistic approach by not only criminalizing FGM/C, but also one that prioritizes education as a preventative measure.