{"id":233822,"date":"2020-10-30T15:47:04","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T20:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=233822"},"modified":"2020-10-29T21:00:34","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T02:00:34","slug":"women-grooming-coerced-abortion-nxivm-keith-raniere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/women-grooming-coerced-abortion-nxivm-keith-raniere\/","title":{"rendered":"Women tell of ‘grooming’ and coerced abortion by NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Keith Raniere, founder of the NXIVM cult, has been sentenced to 120 years in prison<\/a>. Convicted last year of sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, racketeering, and conspiracy to commit forced labor, many of the horrifying details of what happened to his victims have become public knowledge. Numerous documentaries and true crime specials have shed light on what women were forced to endure, which included “master and slave” relationships, sexual slavery and trafficking, and physical abuse, most notoriously consisting of being branded with Raniere’s initials. Yet one major atrocity Raniere forced upon his victims has received much less attention: coerced abortions.<\/p>\n

\"Keith

Keith Raniere. Photo via Facebook<\/p><\/div>\n

A woman named Camila testified for the first time<\/a> at Raniere’s sentencing; her last name has not been made public. Camila said she met Raniere at the age of 13, and he began grooming her immediately. Camila said when she was 15 and still a virgin, Raniere raped her. She and her two sisters were allegedly taken from Mexico to New York by NXIVM to serve as sex slaves for Raniere; all three were impregnated and coerced into abortions. In her victim impact statement<\/a>, Camila said it was still difficult for her to even speak Raniere’s name.<\/p>\n

Camila’s older sister, Daniela, also spoke out<\/a> about the abuse she faced under Raniere. Like her sister, Daniela said Raniere began grooming her from a young age, and raped her at the age of 18. When she eventually became pregnant and told Raniere, he told her they had \u201calready talked about this” \u2014 meaning about her having an abortion \u2014 though Daniela insists that they never had such a conversation. He also allegedly tried to convince her of the supposed “benefits” of abortion.<\/p>\n

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“He said when a woman gets pregnant, their metabolism and their hormones change. He said there were Olympic athletes who had abortions for training,” she said in her testimony<\/a>, adding that he claimed, “This was a great opportunity to lose weight and get fit.” Daniela said she felt “shock” when he made the statement.<\/p>\n

Daniela also stated that Raniere maintained possession of her birth certificate, and arranged for a longtime girlfriend of his \u2014 whom he also had apparently coerced into an abortion \u2014 to take her for the abortion. The woman, Pam Cafritz, obtained an abortion for Daniela without anyone asking questions about Daniela’s immigration status. She was given abortion pills, and was then left alone to go through the horrors of the abortion with no medical supervision. \u201cI was scared,\u201d she said. “I was alone. I was incredibly emotional.” Cafritz also is said to have been the one who took Camila to get an abortion as well, which Daniela said she believes was done to shield Raniere of any liability. “Keith didn’t visit me \u2014 not once,” she testified. “I was all alone. I was all alone throughout the entire process.” Later, when Daniela developed feelings for another man, Ranierie allegedly retaliated by locking her in a room for two years.<\/p>\n

The oldest sister, Marianna, was also coerced into two abortions after becoming pregnant by Raniere.<\/p>\n