Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Long title| An Act to prohibit female circumcision.
Citation| 1985 c. 38
Introduced by| Lord Kennet[1]
Territorial extent | England and Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland
Dates
Royal assent| 16 July 1985
Commencement| 16 September 1985
Other legislation
Repealed by| Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 (E+W+NI), Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005

Status: Repealed

Text of statute as originally enacted

The Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985 (c. 38) is a repealed Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It made female genital mutilation a crime throughout the UK, allowing for sentences of up to five years' imprisonment.[2] It was introduced to the House of Lords by Wayland Young, 2nd Baron Kennet,[1] and passed on 16 July 1985, coming into force two months later.[3]

No one was ever successfully prosecuted under the Act,[4] but a medical practitioner was stricken from the Medical Register in 1993 for having performed the procedure.[5] The Act was replaced by the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 in Scotland, both of which extend the legislation to cover acts committed by UK nationals outside of the UK's borders, so that it became a crime to take a girl abroad to undergo FGM.

## See also

[edit]

* Female genital mutilation in the United Kingdom

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b First reading of Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act, Hansard, 2 March 1983
2. ^ S. 1(2)
3. ^ S. 4
4. ^ Kerbaj, Richard (16 March 2009). "Thousands of girls mutilated in Britain". Times Online.[dead link]
5. ^ Black JA, Debelle GD (June 1995). "Female genital mutilation in Britain". BMJ. 310 (6994): 1590–2\. doi:10.1136/bmj.310.6994.1590. PMC 2549951. PMID 7787654.

## External links

[edit]

* Text of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

* v
* t
* e

Female genital mutilation

Health issues|

* Clitoridectomy
* Dysmenorrhea
* Dyspareunia
* Gishiri cutting
* Husband stitch
* Infibulation
* Keloid scars
* Pelvic inflammatory disease
* Rectovaginal fistula
* Vesicovaginal fistula

By country|

* Prevalence by country
* Laws by country
* FGM in the Gambia
* India
* colonial Kenya
* Kurdistan
* New Zealand
* Nigeria
* Sierra Leone
* Sudan
* United Kingdom
* United States
* Religious views on FGM

Writers/groups|

| Early writers
and activists|

* Raqiya Haji Dualeh Abdalla
* Janice Boddy
* Mary Daly
* Efua Dorkenoo
* Asma El Dareer
* Benoîte Groult
* Rose Oldfield Hayes
* Fran Hosken
* Edna Adan Ismail
* Nawal El Saadawi
* Lilian Passmore Sanderson
* Marion Scott Stevenson
* Hulda Stumpf
* Nahid Toubia
* Amina Warsame

|

Others|

* Fuambai Ahmadu
* Ayaan Hirsi Ali
* Waris Dirie
* Ellen Gruenbaum
* Asha Ismail
* Gerry Mackie
* Molly Melching
* Layli Miller-Muro
* Comfort Momoh
* Alice Walker

Groups|

* Babiker Bedri Scientific Association for Women's Studies
* Equality Now
* FORWARD
* Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children
* RAINBO
* Tostan
* Tahirih Justice Center
* Zero Tolerance Day

Media|

| Books|

* Woman at Point Zero (1975)
* Woman, Why Do You Weep? (1982)
* Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992)
* Desert Flower (1998)

|

Films|

* Moolaadé (2004)
* Desert Flower (2009)
* My Body My Rules (2015)

Legislation|

* Matter of Kasinga
* Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985
* Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003
* 2005 (Scotland) Act
* Children Act 1989 (Amendment) (Female Genital Mutilation) Act 2019

Categories|

* Female genital mutilation
* Activists against female genital mutilation

Authority control databases: People |

* UK Parliament

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template