CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- By insisting on abortion referrals in its anti-trafficking work, the Obama administration may be inadvertently helping the perpetrators of sex-slavery, a former Health and Human Services official says.<\/p>\n\t\u201cThe present policy of the (HHS) department is: 'Victims be damned; we're going to make an ideological point, that we want them referred to Planned Parenthood' \u2013 notwithstanding the fact that it's not in the best interests of victims,\u201d Renewal Forum President Steven Wagner told CNA.<\/p>\n
\tWagner, who directed Health and Human Services' Human Trafficking Program from 2003 to 2006, published a co-written editorial on June 24 criticizing the department's current policy on abortion and contraception, requiring grant recipients to offer a \u201cfull range of reproductive services\u201d to victims.<\/p>\n
\tThree days earlier, a June 21 State Department report called attention to the 21 million worldwide victims of trafficking, who are coerced into prostitution and other kinds of modern-day slave labor. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the problem a \u201cscourge\u201d that demands \u201czealous advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBut Wagner, whose current work also focuses on trafficking, says the State Department's goal of stopping coerced labor is at odds with Health and Human Services' policy demanding that assistance to victims include referrals for abortion and contraception.<\/p>\n
\tWagner described the current HHS policy as \u201ctotally inappropriate,\u201d saying it serves the interest of those who profit from sex-slavery rather than those forced into it. Traffickers, he said, want easy access to abortion and contraception \u201cin order to protect the income-producing potential of their victims.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIf a prostitute becomes pregnant, \u201cthey'll take them into Planned Parenthood to get an abortion,\u201d so that the woman can be made to perform sex work again as soon as possible, Wagner noted.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn that situation, there's no possibility of the victim providing informed consent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\tHealth and Human Services' current policy on \u201creproductive services\u201d caused the U.S. bishops' anti-trafficking work to lose funding last year. The bishops' program enjoyed high ratings and an excellent reputation, but was denied a federal grant for refusing to make referrals for services deemed immoral.<\/p>\n
\tThe bishops argued that their policy was a matter of conscience. According to Wagner, this policy was also in line with trafficking victims' best interests.<\/p>\n
\tEven those who accept abortion and contraception as moral, he said, should recognize the problem involved in making such referrals for those enslaved in the sex trade. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\u201cAny person of good will, with any kind of moral conscience, would agree that a person should be able to provide informed consent before any kind of medical procedure is performed on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat's a pretty basic principle in American law, and medical ethics. We don't perform procedures on those who haven't agreed to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhen any person \u2013 and particularly a juvenile \u2013 is in the position of being trafficked, then by definition they cannot provide informed consent,\u201d the Renewal Forum president explained. \u201cThey are under the control of a person, in whose interest it is that these procedures be performed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBecause the trafficker \u201cis trying to get the victim 'back out on the street' as quickly as possible,\u201d the use of abortion or contraception cannot be regarded as the kind of free choice envisioned by the law and medical ethics.<\/p>\n
\tWagner noted that this issue with abortion and contraception referrals \u201cis particular to trafficking victims \u2013 quite apart from one's overall position\u201d on the morality of these services in general.<\/p>\n
\tThe question is further complicated, he said, by the 2011 release of footage showing Planned Parenthood employees' apparent willingness to cover up cases of purported trafficking. Undercover footage showed employees at several offices \u201cwilling, indeed eager, to facilitate\u201d the trafficker's aims.<\/p>\n
\tThe same expos\u00e9 found that Planned Parenthood employees \u201cfailed to fulfill their legal requirements to report what is self-evidently a case of felony sex abuse of a minor.\u201d Victims of sexual slavery, Wagner stated, should be kept \u201cas far as from Planned Parenthood clinics as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tRather than being referred to providers of abortion and contraception, individuals coerced into sex work should be referred to \u201ca dedicated service provider\u201d \u2013 preferably a survivor of prostitution \u2013 in order to \u201cmake decisions that best respond to the needs of the victim.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThere really is no case in which it is appropriate to sustain someone in a condition of being trafficked,\u201d the Renewal Forum president observed.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe only answer is to get them out,\u201d he said. \u201cAny organization \u2013 like Planned Parenthood \u2013 that is unwilling to collaborate in the rescue of the victim, really has no role to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Washington D.C., Jul 1, 2012 \/ 05:09 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- By insisting on abortion referrals in its anti-trafficking work, the Obama administration may be inadvertently helping the perpetrators of sex-slavery, a former Health and Human Services officia…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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