Trafficking

Human trafficking is a crime involving the capture, transport or harboring of people through coercion or force to exploit them for profit. This can include sex trafficking, but also includes forced labor. People of all genders and backgrounds can become victims of global trafficking, though women and girls of color are disproportionately targeted.

‘Take Beauty From Ashes’: Advocating for Felony Murder Law Reform

PUBLISHED 11/23/2024 by

In 2017, Briana Martinson, then 20, and Megan Cater, 19, went to the apartment of a man whom they believed had stolen medication from Martinson, with the intent to steal it back. By the time they arrived at the apartment, Martinson and Cater were joined by several other individuals, two of whom were older men that the women did not know. According to Martinson, one of the men threatened them with a gun before entering, at which point she realized, “Okay, there’s no turning back.”

In the end, they were each sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison for aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional felony murder.

Was this a case of wrongful conviction? It’s complicated.

How Can We End Child Marriage? Don’t Give Underage Girls Spousal Visas.

PUBLISHED 10/8/2024 by

The Child Marriage Prevention Act is intended to combat child marriage—but some provisions in the bill actually would contradict, undermine and obstruct the national and global commitment to end child marriage by the end of the decade.

Sen. Durbin must withdraw or amend the Child Marriage Prevention Act. Girls in the U.S. and across the globe are relying on us to keep our promise to end all marriage before age 18, no exceptions.

There Can Be No Debate Over Asylum

PUBLISHED 10/3/2024 by and

Tuesday’s vice presidential debate brought exchanges over the question of asylum and border security, with Sen. JD Vance lying—without real-time fact-checking—about the ease of obtaining asylum. He offered a baseless assertion that people can be “granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand.”

Winning asylum is extremely difficult, and the horrific conditions forcing women to seek protection from gender-based violence in Central America and Mexico show no signs of abating.

Thirty Years of the Violence Against Women Act Shows Progress Is Possible

PUBLISHED 9/12/2024 by

On a long list of issues in the newly released survey, women identified domestic and sexual violence as the third most important one facing U.S. women collectively, behind abortion access and cost of living.

As we mark the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act today, it’s worth remembering one lesson that law teaches: Progress is possible.  

Whatever Happened to CEDAW?

PUBLISHED 8/27/2024 by

It’s been 45 years since the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, often described as an international bill of rights for women. Yet some younger feminists haven’t even heard of it.

The vast majority of the world’s nations—96 percent—have ratified CEDAW. The U.S. is not a signatory because it has never made it to the Senate floor for a ratifying vote—making it only industrialized democracy in the world that has yet to ratify it.

(This article originally appears in the Summer 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto on Fighting Child Sex Trafficking—Because Kids’ Rights Are Not for Sale

PUBLISHED 8/6/2024 by

LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto—the first female city attorney in the city’s history and the first Latina elected citywide—has made fighting child sex trafficking a priority since her election in November 2022.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, today Feldstein Soto leads a team of 1,000 legal professionals. She was driven to tackle this issue after witnessing the extent of the problem firsthand during a ride-along on South Figueroa Street. Ms.spoke with her on her multifaceted approach includes rescuing minors, prosecuting predators, and disrupting the demand for trafficked children.

Anti-Abortion Groups Are Coming for Birth Control—Just as Reproductive Rights Activists Warned

PUBLISHED 8/17/2023 by

Dark money anti-abortion and pay-to-play groups are predictably responding to the FDA’s over-the-counter birth control pill decision with a disinformation campaign.

Access to a prescription-free contraceptive pill, the second most widely used form of contraception—more than ever—is an essential tool in the fight for reproductive justice.

How Anti-‘Abortion Trafficking’ Laws Actually *Harm* Youth Trafficking Survivors

PUBLISHED 6/12/2023 by and

Idaho’s anti-abortion legislature and governor created a new crime this year: “abortion trafficking,” a fallacious and deliberate attempt to spread misinformation on abortion. Laws like this will likely begin to appear in another anti-abortion states and state legislatures.

Equating abortion-seeking to ‘trafficking’ undermines the brutal and inhumane realities that youth trafficking survivors endure. Ultimately, for vulnerable children, so-called anti-‘abortion trafficking’ laws codify the human rights and bodily autonomy abuses that true anti-trafficking laws aim to reduce. Adolescent health professionals and advocates must remain vigilant and continue to mobilize a multi-strategy response to ensure adolescents’ reproductive rights amid current assaults.