It’s a problem over here, too

Sex trafficking isn’t just happening “over there” in Asia and Africa. Pimps, gangs, and relatives keep women and children in bondage in Atlanta, Las Vegas, and other cities and towns across America. Through interviews of ministry leaders and former victims (with no graphic imagery), the new unrated Christian documentary Blind Eyes Opened identifies risk factors, reveals suffering, and asks what more can be done to stop it.

The average age of a trafficked girl is 13. Fifteen percent of child victims are boys. Sex-trade victims, child or adult, can be “sold” a dozen times a night. Thousands fall prey because sex trafficking is “more innovative than snatch and grab.” One ploy is for an older “Romeo” to befriend a lonely girl at the mall or online and eventually coerce her into prostitution.

Pornography creates demand, and abortion covers up evidence of the crime. Abby Johnson says when she was a Planned Parenthood director, she “ignored cries for help” and the significance of a girl having multiple abortions. Now a pro-life activist, Johnson says the abortion industry won’t admit it’s “part of the problem.”

The solution? It’s the Church’s job, one interviewee says, to go into chaotic situations and restore peace: intervention, education, forgiveness, healing.

Says Michele Coomer, founder of Chosen4Freedom Ministry, who was trafficked by her father: “I am God’s precious creation, and that’s where my identity lies.”