{"id":64985,"date":"2015-06-29T12:31:48","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T16:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=64985"},"modified":"2015-07-01T12:46:03","modified_gmt":"2015-07-01T16:46:03","slug":"19th-century-many-politicians-didnt-think-fighting-slavery-priority-still-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/19th-century-many-politicians-didnt-think-fighting-slavery-priority-still-dont\/","title":{"rendered":"In the 19th Century, many politicians didn\u2019t think fighting slavery should be priority. Some still don\u2019t."},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s estimated that between 11 and 15 million<\/a> people came across the Atlantic as slaves. Crammed into ships reeking of urine, vomit, and feces, many didn\u2019t survive the trip. Some of those who did would arrive in America.<\/p>\n

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Congress banned<\/a> the importation of new slaves in 1807, but legal slavery would continue for over half a century. Helping it survive was a powerful lobby that had considerable influence in the Democratic Party, with pre-Civil War Democrats adopting a pro-slavery plank in their party’s platform<\/a>. Even among northern Democrats who didn’t represent slaveholding areas, there were some<\/a> who felt the issue wasn\u2019t important enough to fight over.<\/p>\n

A lot has changed since then; sadly, some things haven\u2019t. Although slavery is now outlawed, it\u2019s still around<\/a>, with human traffickers buying and selling victims like property. That doesn\u2019t just happen overseas: a surprising amount occurs in America<\/a>. And just as slavery still exists, there are still politicians who aren\u2019t serious about fighting it.<\/p>\n

Kevin D. Williamson wrote earlier this year about Ima Matul<\/a>, an Indonesian teen who was lured to the US and forced into brutal captivity. Her plight wasn\u2019t unique<\/a>. To help those like her, Sen. John Cornyn introduced the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act<\/a> in January. The bill increased penalties on traffickers while putting their seized assets into a fund to benefit victims. It initially had bipartisan support, but that didn\u2019t last.<\/p>\n

A provision stipulated that the victims\u2019 fund couldn\u2019t pay for abortions, which stood to reason: the goal was to help trafficking victims, not kill them. Put simply, no child should have to pay for her father\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n

And abortion doesn\u2019t only threaten those in the womb. Studies have shown that post-abortive women face an elevated risk of suicide<\/a>, while others are devastated<\/a> by feelings of sadness and loss.<\/p>\n

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid still wasn’t impressed. He demanded that the pro-life rule be removed and then joined with other senators to stonewall<\/a> the legislation for weeks when that didn’t happen.<\/p>\n

They only relented<\/a> after Republicans refused to confirm attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch,\u00a0 agreeing to a compromise in which health services would be covered by tax dollars—funds that are already barred<\/a> from directly paying for abortions. While stalling a bill meant to helping trafficking victims produced some harsh criticism,\u00a0 there was one constituency that applauded the move.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood is the abortion industry\u2019s biggest player, ending over three hundred thousand<\/a> young lives every year. It\u2019s also a powerful figure in Washington, and it called on its allies<\/a> to block the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act until abortion funding was added. It\u2019s not surprising that the abortion industry would show a lack of concern for victims of violence and coercion on Capitol Hill; they\u2019ve done it in their clinics for years.<\/p>\n

Trafficking victims are expected to produce revenue, something pregnancy interferes with. That’s why many of them<\/a> get taken to abortion providers–whether they want to go or not. You can listen below to one of them describe what it’s like.<\/p>\n

In a video produced by the group A21 Campaign<\/a>, a former prostitute named Nicole talks about life as a trafficking victim. In addition to being beaten and threatened with a hot clothes iron, she was forced to have two abortions, an experience she called “the hardest.”
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