"Supporters of the U.S. bishops’ program contend that the government should respect the religious freedom of the Church agency to adhere to its faith-based mission. Further, a former director of the HHS trafficking-victim services program asserts that contraceptive services may actually facilitate coercive prostitution.
Steve Wagner, the director of the human-trafficking program at the Department of Health and Human Services from 2003-2006, argues that it’s counterproductive to provide family-planning services for victims of sex trafficking — the majority of whom are juveniles.
“A lot of sensible people would say that providing contraception to trafficking victims is sustaining prostitution,” said Wagner, who designed the groundbreaking initiative managed by the USCCB for the past five years. He said it was important to distinguish between people who have been victims and those who remain under the control of traffickers.
“Victims being trafficked right now cannot provide informed consent to an abortion or a regime of contraception because they are under the control of a trafficker. If you do provide these services, all you are doing is perpetuating modern-day sex slavery,” charged Wagner.
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