Local Massachusetts news stations must feel pretty lame reporting on stories that, for most other states in the nation, are completely passé. As one of just five states that have absolutely no anti-human trafficking laws in place, the home of the Patriots makes terrible headlines -- women and girls are unprotected from forced prostitution, and pimps and johns run free. Hey Massachusetts, what up with that?
Nearly two years ago, House Bill 1328 was filed in Massachusetts, but has not yet passed. I won’t pretend to understand the convoluted world of politics and its apparently infinite supply of red tape, but seriously? Almost. Two. Years. With no action whatsoever on this most basic state legislation that would make it illegal to exploit human beings through force, fraud or coercion, and would hold responsible the people who attempt to do so.
Outlawing slavery seems pretty simple, but without passage of this bill, Massachusetts, as a state, has no way to effectively address the crime. Meanwhile, Newscenter 5 out of Boston reports that at least 300 child victims of forced prostitution have been identified in Suffolk County alone. Their stories are heartbreakingly similar, fraught with physical and emotional scars that will affect them throughout their lives, while their abusers not only evade culpability, but are free to continue victimizing others in the same manner.
Not unlike the giant roaches we all loathe to encounter after nightfall, human traffickers instinctively inhabit the places they can. No human trafficker currently operating in the state of Massachusetts is particularly concerned with the law — because it doesn’t exist. Massachusetts shouldn't be a haven for human traffickers because the state legislature has spent the last two years not passing an anti-trafficking law.
Tell the Massachusetts House of Representatives to get a move on and provide law enforcement with the most fundamental tool it needs to combat modern-day slavery, HB 1328. Action to protect women and girls from forced prostitution is woefully overdue.
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Photo credit: Alyssa L. Miller
Angela Longerbeam is a freelance writer and pop culture addict fighting to end modern-day slavery with an MFA degree and irrepressible snark.
Tell Massachusetts to Pass Long Overdue Anti-Trafficking Legislation | End Human Trafficking | Change.org
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