The US government instead promotes an abolitionist approach that opposes
prostitution as inherently harmful and degrading and actively supports the
rescue and restoration of sexually exploited individuals, most of whom are
women and children.
The US policy-supporting letter was delivered by the Christian Medical
Association to President Bush's domestic policy advisor, Claude Allen. The
letter counters the contentions of some activist groups, expressed in a letter
sent to Mr. Bush in May, calling for the President not to enforce the
anti-prostitution pledge policy, which was passed by Congress, (The United
States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003) and
signed into law.
Consistent with that law, President Bush issued a National Security
Presidential Directive (NSPD-22) that asserted, "Our Policy is based on an
abolitionist approach to trafficking in persons.
The United States Government opposes prostitution and any related activities,
including pimping, pandering, or maintaining brothels as contributing to the
phenomenon of trafficking in persons."
The letter supporting US policy was signed by groups representing tens of
millions of constituents worldwide and included the CMA, Concerned Women for
America, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, National Association of
Evangelicals, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Sex
Industry Survivors, The Medical Institute, The Salvation Army, World Hope
International, World Relief and others. Besides the over 100 groups, the letter
also included the signatures of 50 physicians and prominent feminists such as
Donna M. Hughes, Ph.D., Diana E. H. Russell, Ph.D., and Phyllis Chesler, Ph.D.
Groups protesting U.S. policy, however, asserted in their letter that opposing
prostitution is judgmental and that "organizations with the most effective
anti-AIDS and anti-trafficking strategies build their efforts on a
sophisticated understanding of the social and personal dynamics underlying
these issues."
The groups supporting U.S. policy countered in their letter, "If a
'sophisticated understanding' means winking at human slave markets and
consigning trafficking victims to continued torture, degradation, and death
from disease and abuse, then we should prefer a 'simple understanding' that
sees slavery as evil and rescues victims before they are further abused,
exploited or killed."
