A 2021 pilot study by Santé publique France found that roughly 7.2 percent of women aged 18 to 45 in Seine-Saint-Denis live with the consequences of female genital mutilation — far higher than in other French departments. National estimates now place the total number of affected women in France near 139,000. The practice remains illegal, yet continues through trips abroad. Local activists and officials clash over how openly the problem is acknowledged.
Key Takeaways by Planet Today
The measured prevalence: The MSF-PREVAL pilot study reported 7.1–7.2 percent prevalence among women 18–44/45 in Seine-Saint-Denis (confidence interval roughly 5.4–9.4 percent), equating to about 22,500 adult women. The upper end of the interval approaches one in ten.
National scale: French authorities and associations estimate between 125,000 and approximately 139,000 women living in France have undergone FGM.
Geographic concentration: Rates drop to around 1 percent or less in departments such as the Rhône and Alpes-Maritimes, correlating strongly with the share of women originating from high-prevalence countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
How it continues: Although FGM is a serious crime under French law even when performed abroad on residents, families still take girls on “holiday” trips to origin countries for the procedure. Cases among girls born and raised in France persist.
Response gap: Specialized medical units exist and government awareness campaigns run, yet critics point to limited high-profile local political engagement in the hardest-hit areas.
In August 2026, Mathilda Silva of the Collectif Némésis drew public attention to a graphic stating that one in ten women in Seine-Saint-Denis is a victim of female genital mutilation. The figure is an approximation of official data. The MSF-PREVAL pilot study, conducted in 2021 across health facilities and published by Santé publique France, measured prevalence at approximately 7.2 percent among women aged 18 to 45 in the department — roughly one in fourteen, with the upper confidence bound near 10 percent. That is several times higher than the 1 percent or lower rates recorded in the Rhône and Alpes-Maritimes.
The study linked the elevated rate directly to demography: about 24 percent of the women surveyed in Seine-Saint-Denis originated from countries where FGM is traditionally practiced (principally Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Guinea). Among those women the prevalence reached around 30 percent. Risk is markedly lower for women born in France after the mid-1990s, yet it has not disappeared.
National Picture and Medical Reality
Across France, the most recent official and associative estimates place the number of women living with the lifelong consequences of FGM between 125,000 and about 139,000. The French government itself cites the higher figure in its 2026 awareness materials. No active cutting is recorded on French soil in recent official statements; the overwhelming majority of cases involve procedures performed in countries of origin, often during childhood or adolescence.
Medical literature and clinical experience document both immediate and long-term harm: severe bleeding, infection, urinary and menstrual complications, chronic pain, sexual dysfunction, elevated risk in childbirth, and profound psychological trauma. Since 2017 a dedicated multidisciplinary unit at the André-Grégoire hospital in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) has offered reconstructive surgery, psychological support and sexological care. Local maternity data from the same hospital have recorded FGM in roughly 13 percent of births in some periods, illustrating the concentration of the issue in the department.
“Female genital mutilation is completely illegal in France… it is an abominable torture… these women are traumatized for the rest of their lives.” — Mathilda Silva, Collectif Némésis
The Legal Framework and the “Holiday” Route
French criminal law treats FGM as a serious offence. When committed on a minor under 15 by a parent or person in authority, the penalty can reach 20 years’ imprisonment. Importantly, the law applies extraterritorially: a procedure carried out abroad on a girl who habitually resides in France is still prosecutable in French courts. In practice, proving the facts, securing evidence from third countries and overcoming family silence remain significant obstacles. Convictions have historically been rare.
The most common circumvention method described by both authorities and associations is the vacation trip. Parents take a young girl to the country of origin during school holidays; she returns having undergone the procedure. French-born girls are not exempt. Clinical staff at the Montreuil unit have reported that a notable share of patients seeking reconstruction each year were born in France and cut during such trips.
In June 2026 the French government launched a national summer awareness campaign under the slogan “L’excision ne doit jamais faire partie du voyage” (“Excision must never be part of the journey”), displayed on bus shelters and digital channels precisely to deter holiday mutilations. An Île-de-France regional plan covering 2025–2028 was also signed to strengthen prevention, detection and care.
Local Politics and Differing Emphases
Seine-Saint-Denis, and particularly the city of Saint-Denis, has become the focal point of public debate. Bally Bagayoko, elected mayor of the enlarged Saint-Denis municipality in March 2026 on a La France Insoumise-led list, has maintained a high media profile on other issues. Critics, including Silva, note the absence of prominent, dedicated municipal campaigns specifically targeting FGM prevention in the months after his election. Public records available at the time of writing do not show high-visibility local initiatives from the new team comparable to the national or regional efforts.
Supporters of the municipal leadership argue that social services, schools and health partners already operate under existing national frameworks and that singling out one cultural practice risks stigmatizing entire communities. Opponents counter that the extreme concentration of cases in one department makes silence or low visibility itself a political choice. Both positions appear in French media and parliamentary discussion; neither has produced a consensus on the optimal mix of prevention, prosecution and community engagement.
Broader Context and Alternative Readings
FGM is practiced in parts of more than 30 countries, predominantly in Africa, with smaller presence in parts of the Middle East and Asia. Prevalence in origin countries has declined in some places over recent decades, yet remains high in others. Migration has simply relocated the consequences and the residual risk into European cities with large communities from those regions.
One school of commentary treats the numbers primarily as a public-health and child-protection failure that must be addressed with the same seriousness as any other form of irreversible bodily harm to minors. Another emphasizes cultural sensitivity, community-led change and the danger of feeding anti-immigration narratives. A third notes that universal human-rights standards already reject the practice and that effective deterrence requires both legal enforcement and credible alternatives to the social pressures that sustain it inside families.
Two brief additional facts help frame the scale. First, among women originating from high-risk countries and living in Seine-Saint-Denis, the measured prevalence is roughly 30 percent — meaning the practice is far from universal even within those communities, yet still common enough to produce thousands of affected individuals. Second, the French state now publicly acknowledges that girls raised entirely in France remain at risk during foreign travel, a recognition that has driven the seasonal awareness campaigns.
Where the Evidence Leaves Us
The MSF-PREVAL data and subsequent national estimates are not activist inventions; they come from Santé publique France and government communications. The concentration in Seine-Saint-Denis is real and demographically driven. The legal ban is clear, yet practical enforcement against procedures performed abroad remains difficult. Medical services for survivors exist and are utilized. Political attention at the local level in the most affected municipality has been quieter than critics demand.
Whether the appropriate response is more aggressive prosecution, intensified community education, tighter monitoring of at-risk girls before travel, or some combination of all three is a policy question still being contested in France. The numbers themselves — approximately one in fourteen young women in Seine-Saint-Denis, nearly 140,000 nationally — are no longer in serious dispute. What remains contested is how openly institutions are willing to name the problem and how consistently they are prepared to act on it.
Primary sources: Santé publique France / MSF-PREVAL pilot study results published in the Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire (2023) and departmental summaries; French government equality ministry communications citing ~139,000 affected women (2025–2026); Remix News report of 14 August 2026 transmitting Mathilda Silva’s remarks — original article; clinical reporting from the André-Grégoire hospital unit in Montreuil.
Disclaimer: This article summarises official epidemiological data, legal provisions and public statements available as of mid-August 2026. Prevalence figures are estimates derived from survey and extrapolation methods and carry confidence intervals. Individual medical cases remain confidential. Readers seeking the most current official statistics should consult Santé publique France and the French Ministry for Equality between Women and Men.
Original article: FGM in Seine-Saint-Denis: Official Data Shows 7% Prevalence Among Young Women on Planet Today 🚀
Automatically republished from the main blog.