Vol 23, 2014 Annals of Health Law 73
HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF SEX TRAFFICKING
sixty-four respondents who gave an answer for the number of miscarriages
they experienced, thirty-five ( 54.7%) had at least one miscarriage and
nineteen ( 29.7%) had more than one. 31 Similarly, more than half ( 55.2%)
of the sixty-seven respondents who answered reported at least one abortion,
with twenty respondents ( 29.9%) reporting multiple abortions. Without
accounting for possible underreporting, this subset of responding survivors
reported a total of 114 abortions.
The prevalence of forced abortions is an especially disturbing trend in
sex trafficking. Prior research noted that forced abortions were a reality for
many victims of sex trafficking outside the United States32 and at least one
study noted forced abortions in domestic trafficking. 33 The survivors in this
study similarly reported that they often did not freely choose the abortions
they had while being trafficked. While only thirty-four respondents
answered the question whether their abortions were of their own volition or
forced upon them, more than half (eighteen) of that group indicated that one
or more of their abortions was at least partly forced upon them. 34 One
victim noted that “in most of [my six abortions,] I was under serious
pressure from my pimps to abort the babies.” Another survivor, whose
abuse at the hands of her traffickers35 was particularly brutal, reported
31. The interviewer notes that in some cases, survivors may have used miscarriage as a
euphemism for abortion.
32. S. Abdulraheem & A.R. Oladipo, Trafficking in Women and Children: A Hidden
Health and Social Problem in Nigeria, 2 INT’L J. SOC. & ANTHROPOLOGY 34, 37 (2010);
Acharya, supra note 3, at 90; CATHY ZIMMERMAN ET AL., THE HEALTH RISKS AND
CONSEQUENCES OF TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN AND ADOLESCENTS: FINDINGS FROM A EUROPEAN
STUDY 24, 51 (2003), available at http://www.oas.org/atip/Global%20Reports/Zimmerman
%20TIP%20HEALTH.pdf.
33. RAYMOND & HUGHES, supra note 9, at 18; see also U.S. v. Todd, 627 F.3d 329, 331
(9th Cir. 2009) (mentioning a forced abortion in describing how sex trafficking defendant
abused his victims); U.S. v. Stokes, No. 10-00244-04 2011 WL 1585601, at 15 (W. D. Mo.
2011) (mentioning a forcible “abortion” performed by a defendant as one of the “overt acts”
in furtherance of a sex trafficking conspiracy).
34. Additionally, several survivors stated in their interviews that they felt forced to
choose abortion by the circumstance of being trafficked.
35. Street gangs are increasingly turning to sex trafficking as a source of income. See,
e.g., Laura J. Lederer, Sold for Sex: The Link Between Street Gangs and Trafficking in
Persons, 4 PROTECTION PROJECT J. HUM. RTS. & CIV. SOC’Y 1, 1 (2011); KAMALA D. HARRIS,
CAL. DEP’T OF JUST., THE STATE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CALIFORNIA 63-64
(2012), available at http://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/pdfs/ht/human-trafficking-2012.pdf;
Press Release, U. S. Att’y’s Office, E. Dist. of Va., Gang Leader Sentenced to 40 Years for
Leading Juvenile Sex Trafficking Ring (Sept. 14, 2012), http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/
news/2012/09/ 20120914stromnr.html; Press Release, U. S. Att’y’s Office, E. Dist. of Va.,
Leader of MS- 13 Gang Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking Multiple Teens
(June 1, 2012), http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2012/leader-of-ms-13-gang-
sentenced-to-50-years-in-prison-for-sex-trafficking-multiple-teens. For a case study of gang
