Dr Brook Bello, a survivor of sex trafficking has pleaded with legislators to stop withholding critical information about the abortion procedure from women and parents of minors exposed to sex trafficking and coercive abortion.
Dr Bello shared her testimony recently via video link and called on Illinois lawmakers in the US not to repeal the state’s parental notification requirements whenever a minor is accessing an abortion.
She has first-hand experience of the issue after being trafficked herself as a young teen and forced to have several abortions.
Dr Bello says: “Had my parents been notified, my mother would have known what city I was in. She would have known what street I possibly would have been near. She could have contacted law enforcement.”
The abortions she had as a teen have permanently impacted her gynaecological health, causing her to suffer “miscarriage after miscarriage after miscarriage.”
She finished her testimony to elected representatives with the following appeal: “I ask the public, and I ask the Illinois legislature, ‘why would you want a child to keep something secret that’s going to affect the rest of her life?’” She continued, “I beg of you, I plead, Illinois, to not reverse and to please notify parents.”
Dr Bello founded More Too Life to help other human trafficking survivors and has received the prestigious Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for her wonderful work.
You can watch a clip of Dr Bello’s testimony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pauk-eMi5kQ