Kirk-Feinstein Amendment to Stop Online Advertisers like Backpage.com Passes Senate

Bipartisan SAVE Act Passed 97-2 and Would Make it Unlawful to Knowingly Advertise Sex with a Minor

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) passed their amendment #273, the Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation (SAVE) Act, which aggressively combats Internet sex trafficking and the selling of children under the age of 18 for sex. It is being included in the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), S. 178.

The SAVE Act makes it it a crime for a person, such as the owner of a website, to knowingly advertise a commercial sex act with a minor. Websites like Backpage.com provide a platform for this type of sex trafficking advertising, earning more than $30 million a year from their illicit ads, and ultimately contribute to the selling and exploitation of minors.

“Freedom on the Internet does not apply to criminals who enslave and sell young girls for sex,” Senator Kirk said. “Those who knowingly advertise minors for sex deserve to be behind bars – not free to continue to profit from the sale of our children. This commonsense legislation protects the most vulnerable members of our society.”

“Three out of four underage sex trafficking victims are sold over the Internet. We can’t stop the exploitation of these young victims, many as young as 12, 13 and 14 years old, without stopping the Internet purveyors,” said Senator Feinstein. “Owners of websites like Backpage.com are profiting off the sexual exploitation of children, plain and simple. They would be less likely to turn a blind eye to these insidious ads if they could be prosecuted for them.”

“Today, the U.S. Senate passed the SAVE Act, which I authored, and which passed the House unanimously in January. For too long, the federal government hasn’t led in the effort to combat the spread of sex trafficking, but today, we change the status quo. I commend my friends Sen. Kirk and Sen. Feinstein for sponsoring this critical piece of bipartisan legislation and I look forward to final passage of this bill,” said Representative Ann Wagner (R-Mo.-02), sponsor of the companion House legislation which passed the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year.