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AAPLOG & ACPeds Joint Committee Opinion 5: Pornography, Sex Trafficking and Abortion

Abstract: It is difficult to separate sexual exploitation and sex trafficking from pornography and abortion. Pornography is potentially addictive and can lead to compulsive sexual behavior, including violence against women and children. Pornography is also a tool for traffickers, who use it to groom victims of sex trafficking. Survivors of sex trafficking report beatings, rape, torture, and the use of drugs and/or alcohol as a means of control and entrapment in trafficking. As a result, survivors often experience a significant number of health problems, both mental and physical. Not surprisingly, many experience reproductive health issues and/or trauma, including multiple abortions, many of which may be forced.

Pornography and sex trafficking are co-dependent health crises that are on the rise. Victims of trafficking interact with the healthcare system multiple times through the course of their being trafficked. Therefore, healthcare professionals are well positioned to be ā€œfirst respondersā€. Health professionals may play a vital role in breaking the vicious cycle of exploitation, entrapment and abuse. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of the symbiotic relationship among pornography, sex- trafficking and abortion. It will then be clear that efforts to combat sex trafficking must include 1) raising public awareness regarding the role pornography plays, 2) training healthcare professionals to recognize and intervene on behalf of sex trafficked victims, and 3) mandated reporting of abortions below age of consent with immediate referral to child protective services.

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