Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985

Prohibition of female circumcision.

1

• (1) Subject to section 2 below, it shall be an offence for any person—

• (a) to excise, infibulate or otherwise mutilate the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of another person; or

• (b) to aid, abet, counsel or procure the performance by another person of any of those acts on that other person’s own body.

• (2) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

• (a) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both; or

• (b) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum . . . or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both.

Saving for necessary surgical operations.

2

• (1) Subsection (1)(a) of section 1 shall not render unlawful the performance of a surgical operation if that operation—

• (a) is necessary for the physical or mental health of the person on whom it is performed and is performed by a registered medical practitioner; or

• (b) is performed on a person who is in any stage of labour or has just given birth and is so performed for purposes connected with that labour or birth by—

• (i) a registered medical practitioner or a registered midwife; or

• (ii) a person undergoing a course of training with a view to becoming a registered medical practitioner or a registered midwife.

• (2) In determining for the purposes of this section whether an operation is necessary for the mental health of a person, no account shall be taken of the effect on that person of any belief on the part of that or any other person that the operation is required as a matter of custom or ritual.

Extradition etc.

3

• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (a) in the list of extradition crimes contained in Schedule 1 to the Extradition Act 1870; and

• (b) among the descriptions of offences set out in Schedule 1 to the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967.

• (2) In paragraph 1 of the Schedule to the Visiting Forces Act 1952 (offences against the person in the case of which a member of a visiting force is in certain circumstances not liable to be tried by a United Kingdom court), at the end of paragraph (b) there shall be inserted, appropriately numbered, the following paragraph—

(0) section 1 of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985.

.

Short title, commencement, and extent.

4

• (1) This Act may be cited as the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985.

• (2) This Act shall come into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which it is passed.

• (3) This Act extends to Northern Ireland.

Saving for necessary surgical operations.

Editorial notes

[^c7661961]: Act wholly in force on 16.9.1985; see s. 4(2)

[^c7661981]: Words in s. 1(2)(b) repealed (5.11.1993) by 1993 c. 50, s. 1(1), Sch. 1 Pt. XIV Gp. 2

[^c7661991]: S. 3(1) repealed by Extradition Act 1989 (c. 33, SIF 48), s. 37, Sch. 2

[^c7662001]: 1870 c. 52.

[^c7662011]: 1967 c. 68.

[^c7662021]: 1952 c. 67.

[^M_F_131e08be-4790-47c6-f23c-18c80dfd6f16]: Act ceases to have effect (E.W.N.I.) (3.3.2004) by virtue of Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 (c. 31), ss. 7(1), 8(2) (with s. 8(5)); S.I. 2004/286, art. 2

[^key-1145593d5916b702626c282c455331ec]: Act repealed (S.) (1.9.2005) by Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 (asp 8), s. 7(2)