{"id":59681,"date":"2015-02-13T19:08:36","date_gmt":"2015-02-14T00:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=59681"},"modified":"2017-01-18T08:05:27","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T13:05:27","slug":"how-i-faked-an-abortion-and-escaped-sex-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/how-i-faked-an-abortion-and-escaped-sex-trafficking\/","title":{"rendered":"How I faked an abortion and escaped sex trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

I was trapped in the sex trafficking industry from age 14-17.\u00a0 Trafficking in persons is not like any regulated industry.\u00a0 It is unmitigated anarchy. There are no rules.<\/p>\n

I was conceived during a brutal rape and learned of it when I was very young. That knowledge and child sexual abuse by my own father and later by a maternal uncle had me feeling worth less than others and vulnerable. \u00a0I was 12 when my mother got her second divorce. \u00a0By thirteen, I\u2019d been dabbling in drugs and alcohol, wandering the neighborhood and hanging out with a bodybuilder in a black Cadillac.\u00a0 He was patient as he courted me and manipulated me into his bed.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t held in sex trafficking with locks, bars or handcuffs, but by fear, threats and hopelessness. \u00a0I had no hope in the authorities helping me. \u00a0One apartment I stayed in was leased to the candidate for sheriff of that small city.\u00a0 Some of the buyers were businessmen, a city councilman, professionals, as well as derelicts who thrived on violence and pain.<\/p>\n

He sold me for the first time on my fourteenth birthday. I stood in three inches of slush, my sneakers full of icy water, shivering in front of a local drug store at the end of the street where we lived waiting for Ace to pick me up.\u00a0 The buyer was thrilled to know I was so young, awkward and afraid.<\/p>\n

Ace sold me for sex hundreds of times. He then sold me to another man who sold me for sex too. It was a quagmire of abuses, gang rape, attempted suicide, sleeplessness, huddling in doorways and church steps, drugs, drinking, arrests and foster care, and running away again.\u00a0 At seventeen, I was sold to a man as a “house pet.” I thought I\u2019d be safer — at least I would only have to serve him.\u00a0 He dressed me up and took me to nice dinners.\u00a0 I got a job.\u00a0 Finally, I felt kind of stable, kind of normal.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d told me that if I got pregnant, I would have to have an abortion.\u00a0 It scared me, but I didn\u2019t feel I had any choice.<\/p>\n

After four months, I did get pregnant.\u00a0 As he slammed his fist on the wooden arm of the couch, he shouted, \u201cI want NO life!\u201d It was terrifying — his voice shot right through me.\u00a0 The man was a small-time organized crime boss.\u00a0 He said that I would have an abortion or he\u2019d kill me, and I knew this was true.\u00a0 One of his enforcers had been my trafficker and beaten and raped me numerous times. \u00a0I made the appointment in his presence.<\/p>\n

That evening, I literally threw my hands in the air as I cried and prayed, \u201cGod, if you\u2019re real, please help me!\u201d\u00a0 Somehow, I fell asleep and I had a dream of an abortion in living color from the perspective of inside of the womb.\u00a0 I had no knowledge of abortion at the time, but I now know that it was accurate for the level of development in great detail.\u00a0 Those little hands and feet, that tiny face, the ribs and blood — it was horrifying! \u00a0I wanted to be a mom for as long as I could remember.<\/p>\n

When I awoke, I called everyone I could think of, going through old business cards people had once handed me.\u00a0 I reached a social worker who had tried to help me as a runaway. \u00a0She found a maternity home that would take me.\u00a0 Some friends would take my things to storage. \u00a0But how would I get away? My captor insisted that we would go out to dinner after the abortion appointment.<\/p>\n

So, the day came. \u00a0I left and made arrangements with the social worker, but I returned and got ready for dinner.\u00a0 I\u2019d been so scared that I was crying and near hysterical all day.\u00a0 With my face swollen, eyes bloodshot, trembling and shallow breaths, I got into the car.\u00a0 I fidgeted — my breaths uneven.\u00a0 I stuttered, as I told him that I wanted to go live with a cousin who would give me a job. \u201cSomething happened to me on that table,\u201d I said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to be here anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought he would understand because he had told me of other girls who he\u2019d forced to have abortions and they were let go. The whole evening, I couldn\u2019t sit still at all because I was so afraid he\u2019d find out. \u00a0I went to the bathroom frequently and cried through the meal, pretending to be nauseous and in pain. \u00a0On the way home, he said I could go, but if I came back to town, I would have to find him.<\/p>\n

I moved quickly the next day. \u00a0I promised God that I would bring my children up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, if my baby was ok. \u00a0She was, and I did. \u00a0People who know me today, cannot fathom that I had lived such a life. \u00a0I explain to them — saving my baby saved my life.<\/p>\n

\"Darlene

Darlene Pawlik<\/p><\/div>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was first published at Save the 1<\/a>, and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was trapped in the sex trafficking industry from age 14-17.\u00a0 Trafficking in persons is not like any regulated industry.\u00a0 It is unmitigated anarchy. There are no rules. I was conceived during a brutal rape and learned of it when I was very young. That knowledge and child sexual abuse by my own father and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":280,"featured_media":59683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow I faked an abortion and escaped sex trafficking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After years of sexual abuse Darlene was sold for the first time on her 14th birthday. 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