Funding of Abortions Slows Senate Support for Human Trafficking Bill
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., wants to build broad, bipartisan support for taxpayer funding of a nonprofit foundation with the audacious task of combating and ultimately eliminating the modern slave trade, known as human trafficking.
Conservatives, however, argue that Corker’s bill would duplicate current government programs and not sufficiently guard against the use of funds to pay for abortions for victims of human trafficking.
Over 27 million people, including many women and children, “suffer in forced labor and sexual servitude in more than 165 countries,” Corker’s office says.
Human trafficking is a $150 billion worldwide industry that “destroys lives, destabilizes countries, and fuels organized crime and terrorist networks that threaten U.S. interests,” a Corker aide wrote in an email to The Daily Signal, adding: “To eliminate slavery on a global scale, we need a coordinated effort that allows us to focus resources responsibly where this crime is most prevalent.”
The Tennessee Republican’s “End Modern Slavery Initiative Act” would provide funding for the nonprofit foundation to target human trafficking.
Critics on the right, though, hesitate to get behind Corker’s legislation because of the abortion issue.
“There are real concerns that the bill lacks sufficient pro-life statutory protections and would create a foundation that could use non-federal …read more