On a busy corner in Wellston, volunteers recently passed out essential items — including bottled water and cellphones — to people in need. Under one tent, sex workers Miyonnee Hickman and Esmeralda, who uses the name for work, fill bags with condoms, pregnancy tests and emergency contraception.
Hickman and Esmeralda represent the MO-Ho Justice Coalition, a statewide organization of sex workers trying to decriminalize and destigmatize sex work in Missouri. After the U. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade , Missouri outlawed nearly all abortions. Now, the coalition is starting an abortion fund to help sex workers pay for the costs of abortion in Illinois. Abortion funds are among the fastest-growing ways that grassroots groups are trying to help people continue to access abortion services.
Sex workers face higher rates of sexual violence. Many entered the industry to afford food and housing. People who use abortion funds often are parents who lack full-time jobs and permanent housing. Esmeralda, 26, began sex work at the start of the coronavirus pandemic when she lost both of her jobs. She later began advertising herself for sugar baby arrangements through online dating sites. Sex workers have sounded the alarm for decades about how politicians were increasingly restricting their bodily autonomy.
It was no surprise, they said, when the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade this summer, leaving legal abortion access up to individual states. In , Congress passed a set of laws that aimed to shut down websites that facilitate sex trafficking. Berg said many sex workers she has interviewed began sex work so they could pay for abortions. Now because of travel costs, abortion is even more expensive.
Old laws like the Mann Act of , which made transporting sex workers across state lines illegal — or any woman for what it called "an immoral purpose" — could be used as a template for legislation to prohibit helping someone get an abortion in another state, Berg said. Organizing as a group gives sex workers, who often face stigma from friends, family and society, a place to be themselves and talk about issues they face in their communities, Hann said.
