December 18, 2025

You might be shocked to learn one of the most brutal practices imaginable, the female genital mutilation (FGM) of little girls, is an Alaska problem.

I was born into a world where FGM was not an exception but the norm. In Somalia, where I grew up, the chance that a girl will be cut is almost a certainty — 98 out of every 100 are. It is not a question of whether but of when. Although the percentage of Alaska girls cut is much smaller, every girl in Alaska deserves to be protected from abuse.

Opinion: I survived FGM. Alaska’s girls shouldn’t have to. – Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Anchorage Daily News