Stopping Traffickers and Their Accomplices Act of 2023

Subjects: Crime and Law Enforcement


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 959 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stopping Traffickers and Their 
Accomplices Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Slavery and involuntary servitude are incompatible with 
        the society and law of the United States.
            (2) The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United 
        States abolished legal slavery and involuntary servitude in the 
        United States.
            (3) Despite slavery being abolished in 1865, modern forms 
        of slavery still exist throughout the United States.
            (4) Every year, hundreds of thousands of people of the 
        United States and immigrants are coerced into commercial sex 
        acts against their will.
            (5) In addition to sexual exploitation, victims of 
        trafficking suffer repeated physical, mental, and emotional 
        abuse at the hands of their traffickers.
            (6) Abortion providers and facilities aid sex traffickers 
        by turning a blind eye to the plight of abused women.
            (7) The Department of State's 2017 Trafficking in Persons 
        Report indicated that sex traffickers coerce women into 
        receiving abortions against their will.
            (8) Research conducted by Laura J. Lederer and Christopher 
        A. Wetzel entitled ``The Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking 
        and Their Implications for Identifying Victims in Healthcare 
        Facilities'' and published in the Annals of Health Law Journal 
        indicated that 71 percent of women coerced into commercial sex 
        acts reported at least 1 pregnancy, and 21 percent reported 5 
        or more pregnancies while being trafficked.
            (9) Lederer and Wetzel's research found that almost a third 
        of trafficked women reported undergoing numerous abortions as 
        victims of trafficking. More than half of respondents answered 
        that their abortion while a victim of sex trafficking was a 
        result of coercion. One victim of sex trafficking recounted, 
        ``[in most of my 6 abortions], I was under serious pressure 
        from my pimps to abort the babies''.
            (10) A moral obligation exists to report suspected 
        instances of sex trafficking to authorities.
            (11) Section 2 of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of 
        the United States empowers Congress to enact appropriate 
        legislation to combat all forms of slavery and involuntary 
        servitude, including forced sex trafficking.

SEC. 3. COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING.

    Section 114 of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 
(34 U.S.C. 20709) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) National Human Trafficking Hotline Notification by Abortion 
Providers.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Abortion provider.--The term `abortion 
                provider' means a person who performs an abortion, 
                including by providing to a pregnant woman a drug that 
                induces abortion.
                    ``(B) Victim of trafficking.--The term `victim of 
                trafficking' has the meaning given the term in section 
                103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 
                (22 U.S.C. 7102).
            ``(2) Requirement.--
                    ``(A) Notification to national human trafficking 
                hotline.--Not later than 24 hours after consulting with 
                a patient, an abortion provider shall notify the 
                National Human Trafficking Hotline if the provider has 
                a reasonable suspicion that the patient is a victim of 
                trafficking.
                    ``(B) Report to attorney general and local law 
                enforcement.--
                            ``(i) Notification to attorney general.--
                        Not later than 24 hours after an abortion 
                        provider notifies the national human 
                        trafficking hotline under subparagraph (A), the 
                        Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
                        notify the Attorney General of the 
                        notification.
                            ``(ii) Notification to law enforcement 
                        agencies.--Not later than 24 hours after 
                        receipt of a notification from the Secretary of 
                        Health and Human Services under clause (i), the 
                        Attorney General shall notify the appropriate 
                        State and local law enforcement agencies.
                    ``(C) Penalty.--An abortion provider who violates 
                subparagraph (A) shall be fined $10,000 for each 
                violation, imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both.
            ``(3) Training.--
                    ``(A) Availability.--The Secretary of Health and 
                Human Services shall make available to abortion 
                providers the training entitled `Foundational (101) 
                Human Trafficking Trainings--SOAR For Health Care' (or 
                any substantially similar successor training).
                    ``(B) Requirement.--On an annual basis and not 
                later than January 30 of each year, each abortion 
                provider shall--
                            ``(i) require each employee of the abortion 
                        provider to complete the training provided 
                        under subparagraph (A);
                            ``(ii) submit to the Director of the Office 
                        on Trafficking in Persons of the Department of 
                        Health and Human Services a certification of 
                        the completion of the training required under 
                        clause (i); and
                            ``(iii) include in the certification 
                        required under clause (ii) the protocols that 
                        the abortion provider has in place to identify 
                        and assist victims of trafficking.
                    ``(C) Penalty.--An abortion provider who fails to 
                comply with subparagraph (B) shall be subject to a fine 
                in an amount of $1,000 for each day of noncompliance.
            ``(4) State enforcement.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In any case in which the 
                attorney general of a State has reason to believe that 
                an interest of the residents of the State has been or 
                is threatened or adversely affected by an action of an 
                abortion provider that violates this subsection, the 
                attorney general of the State may, as parens patriae, 
                bring a civil action on behalf of the residents of the 
                State in an appropriate district court of the United 
                States.
                    ``(B) Jurisdiction.--The attorney general of a 
                State may bring a civil action under subparagraph (A) 
                against any abortion provider that violates paragraph 
                (2)(A) or (3)(B) within that State.
                    ``(C) Relief.--In a civil action under subparagraph 
                (A), the court may fine an abortion provider--
                            ``(i) in the case of a violation of 
                        paragraph (2)(A), $10,000 for each violation; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) in the case of a violation of 
                        paragraph (3)(B), $1,000 for each day during 
                        which the abortion provider is in violation of 
                        that paragraph.
            ``(5) Rules of construction.--
                    ``(A) No requirement for victims of trafficking to 
                self-report.--Nothing in this subsection may be 
                construed to require a victim of trafficking to self-
                report.
                    ``(B) No right to abortion.--Nothing in this 
                subsection may be construed to provide a right to an 
                abortion.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
</pre></body></html>