The Dilemma of Sex Workers and Their Children

As most people get to enjoy the best kind of medical care and services, there are actually quite a number of female sex workers along with their kids whose needs for medical care are unmet, putting them at risk for potentially fatal health problems.

The trade of the flesh has been around since time immemorial. Women, especially mothers in a number of societies across the globe, enter sex work because of the primary need to feed their children as cited in an article on Science Direct.

In one research, Brian Willis of Global Health Promise in Portland, Oregon and his colleagues stressed out that the majority of female sex workers become pregnant, while many perform unsafe abortions or lack access to prenatal care. These female sex workers may die during childbirth or may suffer serious complications in delivery seeing that they have little or no access at all to any medical care during labor and delivery as cited in an article on Reuters.

Moreover, Willis believed that infants who survive in these dire situations are left alone, if not left in poor childcare facilities while their mothers work at night. These infants may be at risk for injuries because of poor supervision or illness due to poor nutrition. "A common theme in all regions is that mothers enter sex work to feed their children, as well as to provide shelter and school fees," Willis said.

"From a public health perspective, we want to prevent injuries and deaths the mothers experience in sex work, so anything we can do to help them find other options to feed and care for their children would help them avoid risks they may experience during sex work, such as violence, unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions," Willis added further.

The place where female sex workers live is also a factor why they face health risks. For instance, in sub-Sahara Africa, the highest risk of death comes from unsafe abortions and HIV as well as a lack of care during labor and delivery.

Furthermore, Shira Goldenberg believed that female sex workers do need better access to reproductive health services. Goldenberg is a gender and sexual health researcher at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada. "Many sex workers are also parents and yet face substantial barriers to accessing health and parenting supports due to the criminalized and stigmatized nature of sex work," Goldenberg said.

Female sex workers have the same pregnancy intentions just like any other women of childbearing age. Nevertheless, worse outcomes emerged because of narrow access to reproductive health services as well as poor treatment when sex workers seek care considering the stigma of their profession. "This deeply concerning gap in supports for pregnant and parenting sex workers underscores the critical need for efforts to support reproductive rights and access to voluntary, respectful and appropriate maternal and parenting services for sex workers," Goldenberg concluded.