Ayaan Hirsi Ali,Founder of AHA Foundation
OUR ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS
LEND YOUR VOICE
TO PROTECT WOMEN AND GIRLS
AHA Foundation works to protect women and girls in the U.S. from female genital mutilation (FGM), child and forced marriage, and honor violence by advocating to expand and strengthen federal and state laws.
Download our Ban FGM Legislative Toolkit which has all the essential information and resources to help ban FGM in every state in the U.S.
FEDERAL LEGISLATION
Bill to Support
S.4021, the Human Rights Violators Act of 2022, seeks to establish that those who have participated in human rights abuses, such as female genital mutilation, are ineligible for entry to the U.S. and deportable.
Take Action
Please urge your senators to support S.4021, the Human Rights Violators Act of 2022, and ensure that human rights abusers are not allowed entry into the US.
STATE LEGISLATION
STATE LEGISLATION AGAINST FGM
How to tackle the Issue:
S786 and HB6534, placeholder bills to end FGM in Connecticut, were filed in the Sentate and House. Now the Joint Committee on the Judiciary must raise and pass a comprehensive bill to end female genital mutilation in Connecticut.
Take action:
Please urge the Joint Committee on Judiciary to raise and pass a bill to end FGM, including education and outreach and criminal penalities for female genital mutilation and a civil cause of action for survivors.
WHY WE NEED
STATE LEGISLATION AGAINST FGM
Strong legislation against FGM:
- Sends a STRONG MESSAGE THAT FGM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED in the state
- GIVES PROSECUTORS THE TOOLS and access to resources to bring perpetrators to justice
- Signals to state prosecutors that FGM IS A CRIME that must be prosecuted
- Fills gaps in federal legislation such as EDUCATION AND OUTREACH TARGETED TO AT RISK COMMUNITIES and the professionals likely to encounter girls at risk of FGM
- PREVENTS GIRLS BEING TRAFFICKED ACROSS STATE BORDERS to perform FGM
CHECK THE STATUS AND STRENGTH OF ANTI-FGM LEGISLATION IN YOUR STATE
STATE LEGISLATION AGAINST CHILD MARRIAGE
How to tackle the Issue:
HB924 would end all child marriage in Texas by eliminating the dangerous loophole in the law that allows 16- and 17-year-olds to be entered into marriage through emancipation, even though the marriage age is 18.
Take action:
Please urge your representative to support HB924, to eliminate the dangerous loophole in current marriage law and end child marriage in Texas.
How to tackle the Issue:
S34 would end all child marriage in South Carolina by eliminating the dangerous loophole in the law that enables 16- and 17-year-olds to marry with parental “consent,” even though the marriage age is 18.
Take action:
Please urge the Committee on Judiciary to eliminate the dangerous loophole in current marriage laws and pass S34, and urge your senators to support S34, to end child marriage in South Carolina.
How to tackle the Issue:
HB2046 would end all child marriage in Kansas by eliminating the dangerous loopholes in the law that allow 16 and 17-year-olds to be entered into marriage by parental “consent” and 15-year-olds to be entered into marriage by judicial approval, even though the marriage age is 18.
Take action:
Please urge the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs to pass HB2046 out of the committee to end child marriage in Kansas, and urge your legislators to support this legislation.
How to tackle the Issue:
HB1455/SB5695 would end all child marriage in Washington by eliminating the dangerous loopholes in the law that allow 17-year-olds to marry with parental “consent” and minors 16 years of age and younger, with no minimum age specified in the law, to marry with judicial approval, even though the marriage age is 18.
Take action:
Please urge the House Committee on Civil Rights and Judiciary and the Senate Commitee on Law and Justice to pass HB1455 and SB5695, respectively, out of committee, to eliminate the dangerous loopholes in current marriage laws and end child marriage in Washington. Please urge your Representative and Senator to support this legislation.
How to tackle the Issue:
HB148 would end all child marriage in Vermont by eliminating the dangerous loophole in the law that allows parents to enter their 16- and 17-year-old minor children into marriage, by simply signing a form without the child’s input, even though the marriage age is 18.
Take action:
Please urge the House Committee on Judiciary to pass HB148 out of committee, to eliminate the dangerous loophole in current marriage law and end child marriage in Vermont. Please urge your Representative and Senator to support this legislation.
Amanda Parker, AHA Foundation’s Senior Director, protests child and forced marriage at New Jersey’s Penn Station in July 2016
Between 2000 and 2018, approximately 297,033 children were legally married in the U.S. A few were as young as 10.*
WHY DO WE NEED STATE LEGISLATION AGAINST CHILD MARRIAGE
- Marriage laws are set by the state, and often contain loopholes, like parental or judicial consent, that make it possible for children to be entered into marriage.
- Child marriage is a recognized human rights abuse. States should not be a party to the abuse of minors.
- Each of the 297,000 children who’ve been married in the U.S. was granted a marriage license. The solution is simple: change the laws and end this harmful practice.
- Child marriage undermines statutory rape laws: some 60,000 marriages since 2000 occurred at an age or spousal age difference that should have been considered a sex crime.*
- State Legislation prevents girls from being victimized and married off, which jeopardizes their health and robs them of their education and economic freedom.
*Child Marriage in the United States: Prevalence and Implications, https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(21)00341-4/fulltext#relatedArticles.
Laws and policies against FGM, forced and child marriage, and honor violence, play a critical role in protecting women and girls against these abuses in the U.S.
YOUR VOICE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
“Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali