Human Trafficking Part 1: The Problem and the Hope, Featuring Anti-Trafficking Hero, Bought Beautifully

The horrors that sex trafficking victims face are torture and murder if they don’t comply, exposure to pelvic inflammatory disease, HIV/AIDS, and other sexually transmitted infections. Women and young girls who are victims of human traffickers that become pregnant may be forced to have abortions, usually in unsafe conditions, which adds to their trauma and health risks. Beside the physical harm suffered, the constant emotional and psychological abuse victims often experience can cause anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.

When a child is trapped in the world of sexual human trafficking the need to prove force, fraud or coercion is not necessary for the offense to be prosecuted. There are no rationalizations that alter the fact that children who are exploited in prostitution are trafficking victims. The use of children in commercial sex is prohibited under U.S. law and by statutes in most countries around the world. Sex trafficking has devastating consequences for children, including long-lasting physical and psychological trauma, disease (including HIV/AIDS), drug addiction, unwanted pregnancy, malnutrition, social ostracism, and even death.