II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 959 

To amend the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 to require 

abortion providers to notify the National Human Trafficking Hotline 

of victims of trafficking, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2023 

Mr. BUDD (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. RISCH, 

Mr. RUBIO, Mr. LANKFORD, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, and Mr. HAWLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 

2015 to require abortion providers to notify the National 

Human Trafficking Hotline of victims of trafficking, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Traffickers 

5 and Their Accomplices Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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•S 959 IS

1 (1) Slavery and involuntary servitude are in2 compatible with the society and law of the United 

3 States. 

4 (2) The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of 

5 the United States abolished legal slavery and invol6 untary servitude in the United States. 

7 (3) Despite slavery being abolished in 1865, 

8 modern forms of slavery still exist throughout the 

9 United States. 

10 (4) Every year, hundreds of thousands of peo11 ple of the United States and immigrants are coerced 

12 into commercial sex acts against their will. 

13 (5) In addition to sexual exploitation, victims of 

14 trafficking suffer repeated physical, mental, and 

15 emotional abuse at the hands of their traffickers. 

16 (6) Abortion providers and facilities aid sex 

17 traffickers by turning a blind eye to the plight of 

18 abused women. 

19 (7) The Department of State’s 2017 Traf20 ficking in Persons Report indicated that sex traf21 fickers coerce women into receiving abortions against 

22 their will. 

23 (8) Research conducted by Laura J. Lederer 

24 and Christopher A. Wetzel entitled ‘‘The Health 

25 Consequences of Sex Trafficking and Their ImplicaVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:00 Apr 05, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S959.IS S959

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1 tions for Identifying Victims in Healthcare Facili2 ties’’ and published in the Annals of Health Law 

3 Journal indicated that 71 percent of women coerced 

4 into commercial sex acts reported at least 1 preg5 nancy, and 21 percent reported 5 or more preg6 nancies while being trafficked. 

7 (9) Lederer and Wetzel’s research found that 

8 almost a third of trafficked women reported under9 going numerous abortions as victims of trafficking. 

10 More than half of respondents answered that their 

11 abortion while a victim of sex trafficking was a re12 sult of coercion. One victim of sex trafficking re13 counted, ‘‘[in most of my 6 abortions], I was under 

14 serious pressure from my pimps to abort the ba15 bies’’. 

16 (10) A moral obligation exists to report sus17 pected instances of sex trafficking to authorities. 

18 (11) Section 2 of the 13th Amendment to the 

19 Constitution of the United States empowers Con20 gress to enact appropriate legislation to combat all 

21 forms of slavery and involuntary servitude, including 

22 forced sex trafficking. 


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1 SEC. 3. COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

2 Section 114 of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking 

3 Act of 2015 (34 U.S.C. 20709) is amended by adding at 

4 the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(g) NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE NO6 TIFICATION BY ABORTION PROVIDERS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

8 ‘‘(A) ABORTION PROVIDER.—The term 

9 ‘abortion provider’ means a person who per10 forms an abortion, including by providing to a 

11 pregnant woman a drug that induces abortion. 

12 ‘‘(B) VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING.—The term 

13 ‘victim of trafficking’ has the meaning given the 

14 term in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims 

15 Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102). 

16 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.— 

17 ‘‘(A) NOTIFICATION TO NATIONAL HUMAN

18 TRAFFICKING HOTLINE.—Not later than 24 

19 hours after consulting with a patient, an abor20 tion provider shall notify the National Human 

21 Trafficking Hotline if the provider has a rea22 sonable suspicion that the patient is a victim of 

23 trafficking. 

24 ‘‘(B) REPORT TO ATTORNEY GENERAL

25 AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) NOTIFICATION TO ATTORNEY

2 GENERAL.—Not later than 24 hours after 

3 an abortion provider notifies the national 

4 human trafficking hotline under subpara5 graph (A), the Secretary of Health and 

6 Human Services shall notify the Attorney 

7 General of the notification. 

8 ‘‘(ii) NOTIFICATION TO LAW EN9 FORCEMENT AGENCIES.—Not later than 

10 24 hours after receipt of a notification 

11 from the Secretary of Health and Human 

12 Services under clause (i), the Attorney 

13 General shall notify the appropriate State 

14 and local law enforcement agencies. 

15 ‘‘(C) PENALTY.—An abortion provider who 

16 violates subparagraph (A) shall be fined 

17 $10,000 for each violation, imprisoned not more 

18 than 6 months, or both. 

19 ‘‘(3) TRAINING.— 

20 ‘‘(A) AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary of 

21 Health and Human Services shall make avail22 able to abortion providers the training entitled 

23 ‘Foundational (101) Human Trafficking 

24 Trainings—SOAR For Health Care’ (or any 

25 substantially similar successor training). 


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1 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—On an annual basis 

2 and not later than January 30 of each year, 

3 each abortion provider shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) require each employee of the 

5 abortion provider to complete the training 

6 provided under subparagraph (A); 

7 ‘‘(ii) submit to the Director of the Of8 fice on Trafficking in Persons of the De9 partment of Health and Human Services a 

10 certification of the completion of the train11 ing required under clause (i); and 

12 ‘‘(iii) include in the certification re13 quired under clause (ii) the protocols that 

14 the abortion provider has in place to iden15 tify and assist victims of trafficking. 

16 ‘‘(C) PENALTY.—An abortion provider who 

17 fails to comply with subparagraph (B) shall be 

18 subject to a fine in an amount of $1,000 for 

19 each day of noncompliance. 

20 ‘‘(4) STATE ENFORCEMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which 

22 the attorney general of a State has reason to 

23 believe that an interest of the residents of the 

24 State has been or is threatened or adversely af25 fected by an action of an abortion provider that 


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1 violates this subsection, the attorney general of 

2 the State may, as parens patriae, bring a civil 

3 action on behalf of the residents of the State in 

4 an appropriate district court of the United 

5 States. 

6 ‘‘(B) JURISDICTION.—The attorney gen7 eral of a State may bring a civil action under 

8 subparagraph (A) against any abortion provider 

9 that violates paragraph (2)(A) or (3)(B) within 

10 that State. 

11 ‘‘(C) RELIEF.—In a civil action under sub12 paragraph (A), the court may fine an abortion 

13 provider— 

14 ‘‘(i) in the case of a violation of para15 graph (2)(A), $10,000 for each violation; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a violation of para18 graph (3)(B), $1,000 for each day during 

19 which the abortion provider is in violation 

20 of that paragraph. 

21 ‘‘(5) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

22 ‘‘(A) NO REQUIREMENT FOR VICTIMS OF

23 TRAFFICKING TO SELF-REPORT.—Nothing in 

24 this subsection may be construed to require a 

25 victim of trafficking to self-report. 


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1 ‘‘(B) NO RIGHT TO ABORTION.—Nothing 

2 in this subsection may be construed to provide 

3 a right to an abortion.’’. 

Æ 


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