Excerpt:
When Marie was two years old, a woman in her village in Africa cut off her clitoris and labia. Now 34 and living thousands of miles away in New York, she is still suffering.
"I have so many problems, with my husband, with sex, with childbirth," she told NBC News, withholding her real name to protect her identity. "The consequences on my life are all negative, both physically and psychologically."
The practice of Female Genital Mutilation is common across much of Africa, where it is believed to ensure sexual purity before marriage. But Marie says FGM is also "very common" in some communities in America.