Catholic nuns and Indiana Governor target Super Bowl sex trafficking

Thanks to 11 congregations of Catholic nuns and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, the sex traffickers who are in Indianapolis this week face elevated opposition and enhanced consequences as they peddle prostitution to the glut of out-of-towners on hand for Sunday's Super Bowl.

"The congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Cleveland is among 11 congregations of Catholic nuns that have their own game plan to discourage sex traffickers from exploiting young women at the big sporting event," Cleveland television station WKYC reported on Thursday. "The nuns have contacted 220 hotels within a 50-mile radius of Indianapolis to get their cooperation to identify and to stop human trafficking."

Sister Pat Bergen of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph wrote an op-ed piece in Friday's Chicago Tribune outlining why the nuns feel so strongly about this initiative.

"Sex trafficking is tragic because it is imprisonment and oppression that devastates its victims. Mostly young women and children, the victims are subject to gross human rights violations, including rape, torture, forced abortions, starvation and threats of torture or murder. Many of these victims have been imported from poverty conditions in foreign countries, duped with promises of good jobs in the U.S. Others were purchased like possessions or kidnapped outright. And some are American runaways whose lives have hit bottom."

Earlier in the week, the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal detailed that Daniels "signed the first bill of the legislative session into law Monday — a measure meant to crack down on human sex trafficking during the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. … The bill makes it a felony to recruit, harbor or transport a child younger than 16 with the intent to engage in prostitution. It also increases the penalty for anyone who sells or transfers custody of a child."

In reporting about the ongoing crackdown in Indianapolis, the Los Angeles Times noted Friday that "major events such as a Super Bowl or Olympics often attract a host of illegal activities, including sex trafficking and gambling."