Senate Bill No. 73
(By Senators Wooton, Walker, White,
Chafin, Boley, Minear, Buckalew, Jackson, Hunter, Sprouse,
Ross, Bowman, Anderson, Ball, Kimble, Plymale, Dittmar and
Schoonover )
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[Introduced February 20, 1997; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary .]
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A BILL to amend article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-nine, relating to crimes against the person;
criminalizing the practice of female genital mutilation;
definitions; and penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-nine, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-29. Female genital mutilation; penalties; definitions.
(a) Any person who knowingly performs, attempts to perform, causes to be performed, or allows to be performed any
nontherapeutic procedure involving the nicking, cutting, slicing
or removing by any means of any skin or human tissue from the
genitalia of a female human of any age is guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state
correctional facility for not less than five years and fined not
less than five thousand dollars nor more than one hundred
thousand dollars.
(b) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Genitalia of a female human" means the clitoris,
vulva, vagina, labia major and minor, and any part of any of
these; and
(2) "Nontherapeutic" means having no relation to the
legitimate treatment of a physical disease or disorder;
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to criminalize the
practice of female genital mutilation in any form.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.