The prevalence of forced abortions is an especially disturbing trend in sex trafficking.” Laura J. Lederer, the senior Adviser on Trafficking for the US State Department.
Recently, I witnessed a level of outrage from the pro life community regarding New York’s law to make late term abortions up to birth legal. Outrage at this law, of which OB’s have testified is unnecessary, is understandable. For me, this law was an outrage because criminals who assault pregnant women only receive one count of assault and not two or a murder charge. When the rates of violence increase towards a woman when she’s pregnant, such a law enables domestic abusers even more.
Now, a new law is on the horizon and one that should be just as concerning and equally worthy of outrage by anyone who claims to be Christian and pro life. And yes, even a parent.
Today, March 11, NOW-NYC and the New York Alliance Against the Legalization of Prostitution, a coalition of women’s rights organizations, direct service providers, faith-based community leaders, sex trade survivors, and concerned New Yorkers are joining together in a march on New York to voice their opposition to the proposed law that would decriminalize prostitution, thereby allowing the legal opening of brothels.
Unfortunately, the voices of the “sex work” movement (a term coined by sex industry profiteers) are loud and saturated by misinformation and propaganda. When trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the USA and is a multi billion dollar industry, rest assured, pimps have their own lobbyists and propaganda spreaders. The largest is this pro-“sex work” movement. But the logic of supply and demand reveals the truth. Countless sources including one study of 116 countries reveals that decriminalization of prostitution leads to higher violence rates and more trafficking. My own personal research has yielded how women in such environments are no safer and experience higher workplace violence rates. For some basic framework, watch Exodus Cry’s awareness video.
Basic foundation aside, this issue goes beyond the controversy and involves the most egregious stain on humanity. These top 4 reasons are why Christians and pro lifers who claim to #lovethemboth should march with them or raise their voices against decriminalization:
- Pregnant women are in high demand. Recently, Julie Bindel was featured in an article revealing the horrific truth about how there has been an increased demand for pregnant women in prostitution aka trafficking. Consider how despicable this is. This perversion happens not only in prostitution but also in pornography where gang bangs of pregnant women are common. When touring one of the legal US brothels in Nevada, Julie discovered a pregnant woman who requested maternity leave. The brothel manager told her she would be better off working due to the pregnancy fetishes of sex buyers. Imagine this new law partnered with NY’s previous late-term abortion law. The previous law already opened doors to enable traffickers pimping out pregnant women for a longer period of time to remove the responsibility of a baby at a later term. This new proposed decriminalization law would enable a profitable supply of pregnant women. That is something no pro lifer should desire. It is also something every pro lifer and pro-life media outlet should combat actively through their platforms and through their voice.
- Women and girls in prostitution suffer higher rates of abortions. In a groundbreaking study, “The Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking and Their Implications for Identifying Victims in Healthcare Facilities”, Laura J. Lederer and Christopher A. Wetzel discovered that of the stories of sex trafficking victims, 55% of these women had undergone at least one abortion while trafficked and more than 30% underwent multiple. More studies are necessary, but every day, more survivors continue to share their testimonies. It’s time to listen. It’s already been established through undercover video investigations that resulted in a congressional investigation that Planned Parenthood clinics were covering up the trafficking of minors. At Freedom Weekend 2018, I personally questioned a former pimp and drug dealer, now reformed, and asked him if he and fellow pimps got abortions for their stable of girls. He told me of course he and others had. It was common to maintain their bottom line: profit. When 400,000 domestic minors are trafficked every year in the US and service 10-15 sex buyers per day it is only logical that rates of abortion are higher for those in the sex industry.
- Coerced abortions are not true choice. In a featured publication by a conservative news source widely trusted and used by pro life groups across the USA, Family Research Council proved the link between sex trafficking, pornography, and abortion. Though the opening figures used are only ones reported and therefore extremely low, any survivor who has come through exploitation in the sex industry understands the estimated million women in prostitution should be included in these figures, especially when 75% are pimp-controlled. Through surveys, WHISPER organization estimates higher. FRC references a study from the Medical Science Monitor which revealed in a nationwide survey that “64 percent of those who have had abortions indicated they felt pressured by others to do so.” Again, this is only what can be gleaned from what is reported. A number that is undoubtedly conservative, especially when rape accounts for the most under-reported crime in the United States. So, consider how rape in trafficking situations is even lower and subsequently, reported abortions from these are also lower. This follows for prostitution or other environments of commercialized sex where women and girls are trafficked such as strip clubs, massage parlors, hotels, motels, pornography etc. When studies have shown us how past trauma influences a path directly into these environments and present trauma contributes to a woman’s psychological state of mind, regardless of what is on the surface, even these abortions are not truly a “choice”.
- Children are raised in prostitution, too. Years ago, I met a survivor at an anti trafficking 5k run who related to me a small part of her testimony, which included how she was still “in the life” while her babies were little. Other prostituted women would babysit while she went to work, and she would watch their babies. This should be a sobering revelation to parents, believers, and any one who claims to be truly pro “life”. We cannot simply be concerned for the welfare of these precious children while they were unborn. Rest assured, mothers who raise children in an environment and lifestyle while they are still prostituted go to great lengths to protect their babies, but it does not stop pimps from violence. In hearing one story by a single mom whose pimp had established a loving relationship with her first only to turn around and train a gun on her innocent 2 year old girl and force this single mom into prostitution, my heart broke for her and for her child. No one should ever want women and children in this sort of life regardless of her background or how she ended up there.
Ultimately, the using of bodies wreaks its own havoc of trauma, both physical and emotional. Consider the survivor who has visible post-abortive scars whether one or multiple from her time in prostitution. Those are just the ones that can be seen, but far deeper ones run inside her. The willingness to commodify bodies should enrage everyone. Why? Because it dehumanizes Gods most precious creation, the only creation made in his image. In citing the most popular pro life verse, Psalm 139, one must remember that every woman and girl in this environment was once a tiny human being growing in a womb.
If you desire to #lovethemboth, then speak out against this law, which will lead to more abortions. Speak out against this law that dehumanizes God’s most precious creation. On two fronts in the cases of pregnant women! Speak out against this law that would create a more dangerous world every child and increase trafficking rates of minors. Speak out against a law that sends the message to our children that it’s okay to use her body and then discard her and forcecoerce/pressure her into abortions. Speak out against prostitution decriminalization! Care about BOTH New York laws!
(To follow up with a SOLUTION, watch this other awareness video to learn about the Nordic Model aka the Abolition Model)