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This edition of the Life Issues Forum is available in English. The Spanish translation will soon be posted to our website.
The Life Issues Forum is a bi-weekly column by Pro-Life Secretariat staff addressing the latest issues on the culture of life. Columns may be reprinted as they appear here (in full and without alteration) without further permission.
In Christ,
The Pro-Life Secretariat
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LIFE ISSUES FORUM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
By Debbie Shinskie, Guest Columnist June 30, 2017
At the local abortion facility,
an older man drives a car with four young women in the back into the
patient parking lot. Those praying on the sidewalk are concerned, not
only with the fact that they are entering an abortion facility, but also
with the suspicious dynamics in this group. In a separate incident,
across town at the Catholic pregnancy health care center, a woman breaks
down and shares with the nurse that a man is selling her for sex and
she might be pregnant.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans
Respect Life Office's active engagement in a human trafficking awareness
campaign helped those praying on the sidewalk and the pregnancy center
staff to recognize the signs of human trafficking and make appropriate
calls to report it. Through a collaborative effort with local service
providers, the young woman at the health center was quickly relocated to
a safe house for sex trafficking victims.
New Orleans is a known
destination for human trafficking. The popular, tourist-driven economy
and convenient location allow for a "market" for both buyers and sellers
of these victims. Sadly, it's a microcosm of the trafficking going on
across the country.
Statistics gathered from the Polaris Project's National Human Trafficking Hotline
reveal that most of the U.S. female human trafficking victims are sold
for sex, often multiple times each day, up to seven days a week.
According to current research, female victims are very likely to conceive a child at some point, even if
they regularly use birth control. Traffickers often force these women
to then abort any child conceived. So, fighting the modern-day slavery
of human trafficking is a deeply pro-life endeavor - for women and their
unborn children, alike.
Dioceses around the country are
developing various ways to respond to this urgent situation. The
Archdiocese of New Orleans' local response is part of a comprehensive
approach modeled on the U.S. bishops' Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities, the Catholic blueprint for respect life activities at the national and local levels.
In addition to raising public
awareness about sex trafficking, the multi-faceted approach includes a
train-the-trainer element. Recent statistics indicate that 87% of
trafficking survivors had contact with a healthcare provider during the
time they were being trafficked, with 57% of these situations involving a
women's clinic, urgent care facility, or some other type of
neighborhood clinic. Catholic healthcare providers, those who pray and
counsel outside abortion facilities, and others who might encounter
trafficking victims are getting the training they need to recognize and
assist victims.
Raising awareness about human
trafficking helps us partner with care providers through our donations
and services for victims and survivors. It also serves our advocacy
efforts at the local, state, and federal levels to affect changes
legislatively.
Finally, the foundational work
of prayer cannot be emphasized enough. This has grown into a whole new
ministry, our Respect Life Prayer Team. Orchestrated by one of our Human
Trafficking Committee members, the team leads a prayer effort involving
hundreds around the archdiocese, including those who are retired,
physically challenged, homebound, in assisted care residences, and
others who cannot otherwise participate in this work.
The Church will keep fighting
this evil hidden in plain sight. In addition to praying for the
development of effective ministries for sex trafficking victims, check
with your local diocese to see what resources are available for those
most at risk.
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Debbie Shinskie is Director of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Respect Life Office. For more on the U.S. bishops' efforts and resources to combat human trafficking, visit www.usccb.org/stopslavery.
