Please help Amber Batts

whatfreshhellisthis:

whatfreshhellisthis:

Amber Batts faces 10 to 25 years in prison and a place on the sex offenders register for engaging in sex work in a way that keeps sex workers safe.

Amber Batts is not accused of threatening or harming anyone. She is not accused of abuse or coercion. She is accused “primarily of doing things that increase the safety of people in the sex trade: marketing online, checking customers against a blacklist, negotiating independent contractor agreements with workers, maintaining an indoor place of prostitution, and of course engaging in conduct that aided or facilitated prostitution.  When people in the sex trade associate with each other, advertise online, screen clients, and work indoors it increases their safety.” [source]

And yet in the media Amber is being referred to as a ‘pimp’ and a ‘trafficker’, and she’s being treated as though she’s already been convicted. After posting two $15,000 bonds to be out on bail, they also require her to be on third party custodian full time. This means that Amber is on house arrest and is only allowed to leave her house 3 times a week to attend support group meetings, and she is having to wear an ankle monitor that she has to pay $600 per month for.

“I am concerned about the health and welfare of my friend Amber and her children in the event an emergency arises and she doesn’t have the right to even go to the emergency room without risking being put in jail,” said Elena Stewart, “she cannot even shop for food.”

Her current attorney, Rex Butler, will be withdrawing as her defense counsel because she doesn’t have the ability to pay him.

She is in dire need.

Please go to supportamberbatts.wordpress.com for more info.

The Community United for Safety and Protection [CUSP] is “an alliance of current and former sex workers and sex trafficking victims and their allies working towards safety and protection for all people in Alaska’s sex trade.” Their statement on Amber’s situation can be read here.

Thank you for your current support but please keep reblogging and giving! She has a donation goal of $10,000 to pay for her defence counsel and support herself and her family whilst she is unable to work!