Dr. Ann Abrameit

Dr. Ann Abrameit, a board-certified OB-GYN in Tyler, will lead Thursday’s Walk With a Doc program.

The topic will be “Human Trafficking.”

Abrameit completed medical school at Texas A&M College of Medicine at College Station with a postgraduate internship and residency at University of Oklahoma Memorial Hospital in obstetrics and gynecology and Scott and White Memorial Hospital in OB-GYN.

Walk With a Doc, a project of the Smith County Medical Society, begins at 6 p.m. at Rose Rudman Recreational Trail’s Copeland Road trailhead, followed by walking.

Q: What is human trafficking?

A: Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by improper means such as force, fraud or coercion for forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Basically human trafficking is modern-day slavery.

Q: Who is at risk for trafficking?

A: Traffickers prey on vulnerable children and adults. This includes runaways, children in foster care, people with addictions and people with dysfunctional families.

Q: What are the signs someone is involved in human trafficking?

A: A victim might not know the city or state they are in “just visiting,” not answer questions about themselves (someone speaks for them), not be in control of their own money or be unpaid or paid very little, among other factors.

Q: Where can I learn more?

A: Two good resources are the books: “Renting Lacy: A Story of America’s Prostituted Children” by Cindy Coloma and Linda Smith and “The Locust Effect” by Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros; websites such as the Polaris Project, National Human Trafficking Resource Center and HEAL Trafficking; and organizations such as International Justice Mission, the Human Trafficking Institute, Shared Hope International and Free the Slaves.

Q: How can I be involved locally?

A: Local organizations that address human trafficking include Refuge of Light, which operates a safe home for young girls ages 10 to 17 who have been trafficked in the United States, and For the Silent, which provides prevention and survivor care for sex trafficking victims.