A bill that would criminalize female genital mutilation in Maine was struck down this month in Augusta by House Democrats, a development that appears to validate an eye-opening claim made in August by Republican State Representative Heather Sirocki that the practice is already under way in the Pine Tree State.
“I get private Facebook messages from nurses; I get personal conversation from folks, they’re telling me what they’re seeing in Maine hospitals,” Sirocki told Portland’s WGME-TV last year.
Whether it’s happening or not — the procedure apparently doesn’t bother a majority of Maine state representatives to make it illegal, after a roll call vote to criminalize the practice failed in the Maine House of Representatives by a 70-77 vote:
The only vote from Democrats in favor of criminalizing the practice came from Cathy Nadeau of Winslow.
A March 1 report from Maine First Media, a right-of-center online news outlet, documented testimony regarding the bill.
