Tag: Sen. Bill Ketron

State Sen. Bill Ketron Questions Why No Cases of Female Genital Mutilation Have Been Reported in Tennessee Since 2012

Chris Alto

State Senator Bill Ketron is questioning why no cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) have been reported since 2012, after his bill requiring healthcare providers to report suspected incidents of FGM to law enforcement officials, including the district attorney general’s office, became state law. Ketron sponsored the 2012 bill after the Hospital Association “slipped us the information” that at least twenty-one cases of FGM in Tennessee had been reported at that time. Tennessee criminalized FGM as a Class D felony in 1996, but as Ketron told The Star, “we had no mechanism for reporting under previous law which was a barrier to prosecution. So, that is what [his 2012] bill was about – to stop this act from occurring in our state.” Ketron’s response to the absence of reporting is a bill passed 9-0 by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday. This bill requires the District Attorney Generals to annually report the number of FGM cases reported to their offices to the Senate Judiciary and House Criminal Justice Committees. While presenting the bill to the Committee, Ketron questioned the absence of any reporting since 2012, given the fact that twenty-one cases of FGM had already been reported. He told the committee that his…

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Seven Republican State Lawmakers to Represent Tennessee at Balanced Budget Amendment Planning Convention

Wendy Wilson

  Seven Republican Tennessee state lawmakers will head to Phoenix next week for the Balanced Budget Amendment Planning Convention. The purpose of convention, which starts Tuesday and is expected to last through Thursday or Friday, is to lay the groundwork for an anticipated convention convened under Article V of the U.S. Constitution to propose a balanced budget amendment. The lawmakers include Sens. Mark Green (R-Clarksville), Mike Bell (R-Riceville), Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) and Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), and Reps. Jay Reedy (R-Erin), Sheila Butt (R-Columbia) and Dennis Powers (R-Jacksboro). The national convention of the states next week is the first held since 1861, when states met to discuss an amendment they hoped would avert a civil war. A resolution submitted to the convention by the Tennessee delegation is the first draft of rules presented for consideration, according to a news release issued by the Tennessee Senate Republicans. “The resolution filed by our delegation will serve as a guide to the discussion to get the ball rolling on rules to govern an Article V convention to balance the federal budget,” said Sen. Bell. “Our nation’s founders, Mason and Madison, insisted there be a method to amend the Constitution, fearing that at some point in…

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Siloam Health Chooses Not to Help Stop Female Genital Mutilation in Tennessee

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

  Working in partnership with Catholic Charities’ TN Office for Refugees, Siloam Health Care Services, Inc., headquartered in Nashville, serves as the Statewide Refugee Screening Coordinator for Tennessee and provides the initial domestic medical screening for refugees resettling in Middle Tennessee. Siloam also contracts with Christ Community Health Center in Memphis, and Cherokee Health Systems in Chattanooga and Knoxville to provide the medical screenings in East and West Tennessee where federal resettlement contractors are bringing refugees. Siloam has confirmed to the Tennessee Star that they do not screen for FGM as part of a refugee’s initial exam, and because Siloam says they don’t provide follow-up primary care for the refugees, they have no idea what the “actual prevalence of FGM among refugees” might be: Performing a pelvic exam is not a routine part of that first exam.  For that reason we can’t comment on how prevalent FGM is among the refugees that we screen.  Follow-up care (continuity of care or ongoing primary care) is with local TennCare practitioners in the county, so the actual prevalence of FGM among refugees may be known by others in our community. However, Siloam’s January 29, 2017, Facebook post expressly acknowledges the continuing medical-patient relationship with “many” of the refugees who…

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Female Genital Mutilation a Felony in Tennessee, But TBI Does Not Document Number of Cases in Annual Crime Report

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

  Both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) agree that over 500,000 women and girls in the U.S. are either at risk for female genital mutilation (FGM) or have already been mutilated. The CDC estimates that the risk has tripled since 1990, and the PRB estimates rank Tennessee 18th in the country for risk to women and girls from FGM. The dramatic increase in risk is attributed to immigrants, including refugees, who come to the U.S. from high FGM prevalence countries. Despite Tennessee’s twenty-one cases of FGM in 2011 cited during discussion of the FGM reporting bill that became law in 2012, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) does not consider this Class D felony as serious as a “lovers’ quarrel” to warrant a break-out category in its annual “Crime in Tennessee” report. Sen. Bill Ketron sponsored the 2012 bill that now requires immediate reporting of suspected incidents of FGM to law enforcement officials.  Motivated by a sense of moral outrage regarding the practice of FGM, Sen. Ketron told The Tennessee Star that “This is a basic human rights issue. No one should be mutilated in this manner. It’s a despicable act of abuse.” Importantly, Sen. Ketron said…

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