----- Why Did Democrats Block Human Trafficking Bill? ------
23 March 2015Unit 4: Institutions of National Government
Divisive issue of abortion stalls human trafficking bill
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/03/21/divisive-issue-of-abortion-stalls-human-trafficking-bill/21156024/
The Democratic Party in the Senate found a small but largely
controversial addition to the human sex trafficking bill being discussed. That small find is a “slip-in” addition by
the Republicans that adds a reference to abortion. The bill itself was
introduced back in February of 2015 with a bi-partisan effort backing it. There is no telling when the bill will be
moved forward or at worst, forgotten about.
This bill is important to the United States because it helps the
thousands of children that will find themselves a victim engaged in sex
trafficking. According to the US Justice
Department, an estimated 300 thousand adolescents are at risk of being lured
into human sex trafficking each year in the United States, most of these
children are runaways. Some of the
biggest cities for trafficking are El Paso, Houston, Philadelphia, etc. The bill is supposed to launch a program that
would give police officers all over the nation the funds to purse trafficking
cases. It would tighten the way
prosecutors target their offenders of the law, by tightening it was established
in the proposed law that anyone convicted of sex trafficking or other
similarities of the bill is automatically charged a $5,000 dollar fine that
would go back into the funded program to help with resources and salaries for
officers.
One of the current issues that the United States and
in many foreign countries are dealing with right now is human trafficking
whether for drugs, prostitution, or other means of slavery. Human trafficking happens on all levels of
government: national, city, and local.
President Obama’s attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch, was
practically in the middle of signing the bill before the republicans held her
back until the abortion issue between the parties is solved. Many women, even those who are Republican,
believe that it is a woman’s right to do what she wants with her own body. Many Democrats and Republicans were appreciative
that this bill was looking promising before the abortion battle began. The democrats want funding for abortion
clinics and had to filibuster the bill would it came to Republicans slipping into a hole that would cut
funding for abortions. It does not look
good from a political standpoint on either party holding up the bill as they
are. Negotiations are being done yet
there are thousands of children being forced into human trafficking situations. This bill could help thousands of adolescents
be rescued from this miserable way of life.