A bill aimed at websites that facilitate online sex trafficking has enough votes for passage in the Senate, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said Thursday.
The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) has 65 sponsors, Heitkamp said in a news release Thursday. She told the Herald she expects that number could grow to 70.
"That is an incredible feat in a politically charged environment," Heitkamp said, adding the goal of the legislation is to prevent human trafficking, or at least keep online companies from making a profit from sex trafficking. "We think this amendment ... is essential to making sure this never happens again."
The bill would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to say facilitating the act of selling humans for sex online is not protected under the First Amendment but is a violation of federal criminal code, according to the bill's summary. Introduced in August by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, SESTA was written in response to a report revealing Backpage.com leadership "deliberately crafted loopholes that enabled the trafficking of men, women, and children online," according to a news release issued by Heitkamp's office on Jan. 10, 2017.
The day before the report was released, Backpage deleted its adult section, a spot that allegedly was used for human trafficking advertising. The website's leadership claimed Backpage protected under the Communications Act and the First Amendment, calling moves to bring down the adult section "unconstitutional government censorship," according to statements from the company.
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Heitkamp said it is "repulsive" that anyone would use the First Amendment "as a protection when they're selling children for sex."
"That was disgusting," she said. "They really were some of the most disgusting witnesses I've ever had before me since I've in the Senate, or anytime that I had in public life."
Backpage executives were asked to testify to a Senate subcommittee on the report in January 2017 but invoked the Fifth Amendment.
