SAFE SEX Workers Study Act Reintroduced

“Thanks to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office, we know that SESTA/FOSTA has not been successfully used to crack down on sex trafficking,” said Khanna in a March 3 press statement. “Instead, since its enactment, I’ve heard from sex workers who have experienced increased physical and sexual violence after being pushed off online platforms and forced onto the streets to find clients.”

Khanna references a report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) which found that SESTA/FOSTA hasn’t been successfully used to crack down on sex trafficking. YNOT reported on this GAO report when it came out last summer.

“Congress needs to listen to the stories of sex workers,” Rep. Khanna said. “I’m proud to partner with Rep. Lee and Senators Warren and Wyden on this bill and grateful to the many advocates working on this critical issue.”

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), with Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), are the cosponsors of the reintroduced act. If passed and signed into law by President Joe Biden, the SAFE SEX Workers Study Act will direct the US Health and Human Services Department to conduct the first federal study “on the impact that a 2018 anti-sex trafficking bill…has had on sex workers.”

Such a landmark study will require consultation with the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, with further investigation and citation from sex workers and stakeholders. The agencies will be required to file their report to Congress within one year of the date of enactment.

“It is tragic that SESTA/FOSTA has done nothing to help victims of human trafficking, while by all accounts causing sex workers to suffer from increased violence and threats,” said Sen. Wyden.

Wyden, along with former Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), wrote Section 230 in 1996. Former President Donald Trump signed SESTA/FOSTA into law in 2018.

“As I feared, SESTA/FOSTA demonstrated that shutting down online speech inevitably hurts marginalized groups hardest. I applaud Senator Warren and Rep. Khanna for authoring this legislation to comprehensively study SESTA/FOSTA’s impacts on sex workers,” Wyden said.

Groups supporting the SAFE SEX Workers Study Act include the Drug Policy Alliance, Harm Reduction Coalition, Center for Democracy and Technology, and Fight for the Future. The Sex Workers Outreach Project, Strippers United, Center for Constitutional Rights, Woodhull Freedom Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union. Numerous LGBTQ+ rights organizations have also voiced support for the act.