On a busy corner in Wellston, volunteers recently passed out essential items 鈥� including bottled water and cellphones 鈥� 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.S. , 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 that grassroots groups are trying to help people continue to access abortion services.
鈥淚t's going to be these grassroots groups on the ground who are going there to serve people when the state has let them down and cannot meet their needs,鈥� said Maggie Olivia, the policy manager for Pro-Choice Missouri, the state鈥檚 largest abortion-rights organization.
Sex workers . . People often are parents who lack full-time jobs and permanent housing.
Esmeralda, who has had two abortions, said she wants others to be able to access the same care.
鈥淜nowing that I had that option and how difficult [it] was at those moments in my life and knowing now that a lot of people don't have the option that I had, it puts me in a position of like, 鈥業 need to do something about this,鈥欌�� she said.
Difficult decisions
Esmeralda, 26, began sex work at the start of the coronavirus pandemic when she lost both of her jobs. She started by selling photos and videos on Twitter and Instagram, and after making $500 in two days, decided to stick with it. She later began advertising herself for sugar baby arrangements through online dating sites.
But she said going into sex work wasn鈥檛 easy, mostly because she was afraid her family would find out.
Ultimately, Esmeralda decided to do what she wanted with her own body.
鈥淚 can't live my life thinking about others [and] what they're going to think,鈥� Esmeralda said. 鈥淭hey're not the ones that are going to be paying my bills.鈥�
Her decision to have an abortion wasn鈥檛 easy either, she said. But it came down to the fact that she couldn鈥檛 give a child the life she wanted to.
鈥滻f I鈥檓 going to bring another human into the world, I want to give them everything they need,鈥� Esmeralda said. 鈥淎nd at that time, I couldn鈥檛 give that little person that.鈥�
As sex workers could become pregnant while working, it鈥檚 essential that they have access to abortion, she said.
鈥淪ex work is with our own bodies,鈥� Esmeralda said. 鈥淲e're always on the verge of getting pregnant or getting an STD.鈥�
Predictive policy changes
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 2018, Congress that facilitate sex trafficking. FOSTA-SESTA made it harder for sex workers to advertise their services online and made their work more dangerous, they said, driving them more often to street work.
鈥淔irst, the state makes you more vulnerable to being sexually assaulted,鈥� said Heather Berg, a Washington University professor of gender, women and sexuality studies who studies sex work. 鈥淎nd then," when it comes to abortion services, "it takes your ability to access health care off the table.鈥�
Berg said many sex workers she has interviewed began sex work so they could pay for abortions. Now because of travel costs,
Old laws like of 1910, which made transporting sex workers across state lines illegal 鈥� or any woman for what it called "an immoral purpose" 鈥� could be used as a template for legislation to prohibit helping someone get an abortion in another state, Berg said.
鈥淲hat sex workers mourn when contesting these laws is that it they won't just affect them,鈥� Berg said. 鈥淪ex workers always warn with policing and surveillance policy, that they won't be the last ones 鈥� that they鈥檙e canaries in the coal mine.鈥�
That鈥檚 why sex workers are experts in staying safe and navigating new statewide abortion restrictions throughout the country, she said.
A fine legal line
The rights of sex workers and others seeking abortions are inherently intertwined because they ultimately have the same goal of bodily autonomy, said MO-Ho Justice Coalition鈥檚 co-founder, Indigo Hann.
鈥淎t the end of the day, what we are all advocating for is for people to be able to be in charge of what they do with their bodies,鈥� Hann 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.
Sex workers often choose their own family, they said, and rely on each other for protection and support.
鈥淚t opens a space for people who are truly at the margins to be able to be free to be who you are, without apology [and] without violence, and to care for each other in substantive, material ways,鈥� Hann said.
Sex workers have always had to walk a fine legal line because of their work, Hann said. Now that much of the rest of the country is having to navigate to access abortion, sex workers constitute a community that鈥檚 ready to help.
鈥淪ex workers offer a beacon of wisdom, guidance and and hope in a post-Roe world,鈥� Hann said.
Farrah Anderson is the newsroom intern at 漏 2024 外网天堂. Follow her on Twitter: .
