A bill to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct a study to assess the unintended impacts on the health and safety of people engaged in transactional sex, in connection with the enactment of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 and the loss of interactive computer services that host information related to sexual exchange, to direct the Attorney General to submit a report on human trafficking investigations and prosecutions in connection with the same, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · December 17, 2024
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
The SAFE SEX Workers Study Act directs the federal government to investigate the unintended consequences of the 2018 SESTA/FOSTA law, which was designed to combat online sex trafficking but also resulted in the closure of websites used by people in consensual sex work. The Department of Health and Human Services must conduct a comprehensive study examining how the loss of these online platforms has affected the health and safety of sex workers, including impacts on their ability to screen clients, access harm reduction information, negotiate safe working conditions, and maintain economic stability. The Attorney General must simultaneously report on how these website closures have affected human trafficking investigations and prosecutions. Both agencies are required to consult with service organizations that work directly with sex workers and trafficking survivors, pay special attention to how impacts differ for vulnerable populations like LGBTQIA+ individuals and people of color, and submit their findings to Congress within one year of the bill's enactment. The legislation reflects concerns that while SESTA/FOSTA aimed to prevent trafficking, it may have inadvertently pushed sex workers toward riskier circumstances and reduced law enforcement's ability to identify actual traffickers.
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