Women with a Vision/Project UNSHACKLE Partnership

Women with a Vision and CHAMP’s Project UNSHACKLE are joining together to mount a campaign to combat the sentencing of women who are sex workers under the 203-yr-old “crimes against humanity” felony-level law.  This law requires women to register as sex offenders for the next 10 years, placing ‘sex offender’ on their photo identification cards, among other prescribed penalties.

Those charged with and sentenced under this law are disproportionately poor women of color at elevated risk of HIV, most of whom are struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, and who are cycling in and out of the criminal justice system.

We are seeking funding to support the launch of a Women with a Vision/Project UNSHACKLE partnership to challenge this unjust sentencing law as part of a long-term plan address the larger web of injustices these women are moving through.

Prosecution under this law has emerged within a climate of persistent lack of access to services, violence against women, and lack of respect for women’s health, all of which make these women more vulnerable to HIV.

A critical next step in this partnership is to convene a stakeholders meeting with Women with a Vision and their allies to develop a communications plan and campaign strategy for combating this law and its enforcement.

We seek immediate support to allow Laura McTighe and Julie Davids to travel to New Orleans to work with Women with a Vision and their allies towards this end, including the production of campaign framing documents and outreach materials.