Senator Schumer and Senator Leahy held a press conference on April 16th at the Nations Capital to address the JVTA controversy.
Human-trafficking victims attended the news conference, urging Republicans to drop the Hyde language. Stacy Jewell Lewis called the language — which includes exceptions for rape and incest — “insulting” to sex-trafficking victims.
“Are sex-trafficking victims not walking rape victims? Haven’t they already been humiliated enough? If they are identified as victims of sex trafficking, you know they have been raped. So this language is an insult to every victim of sex trafficking.”
Survivors of Slavery 