COLUMBUS—Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has signed a bill that defines human trafficking and imposes tougher penalties on sex traffickers who force women and children into prostitution.

The amended House Bill 280, which state legislators passed at the end of December, requires a mandatory prison term for those who commit felonies in furtherance of human trafficking. These include kidnapping, compelling or promoting prostitution and displaying minors in nudity-oriented material or performance circumstances.

Sex traffickers who engage in a pattern of corrupt activity face a first-degree felony under the legislation.

State Senator Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), a proponent of the bill, said in a statement that it “will specifically address commercial sex acts and provide prosecutors with the tools necessary to increase penalties and issue mandatory prison sentences toward those who engage in the corrupt activity of sex trafficking.”

It also requires traffickers to provide restitution for their victims, including the costs of housing, counseling and medical and legal assistance.

In the United States, it is estimated between 100,000 to 300,000 children are at risk of being trafficked and exploited sexually. The average age of children entering prostitution is between 12 and 14.

In 2006, Toledo received state and national attention after federal authorities raided a sex trade operation. The previous year, Toledo was identified as a hub for teenage prostitution when federal authorities broke up a prostitution ring in Harrisburg, Penn., and found at least 77 of the women were from Toledo. Thirty-eight minors were among them.

Ohio joins the federal government and 39 other states in enacting laws against human trafficking.

Local members of the Stop Trafficking of Persons (STOP) committee, a group founded by women religious of the Diocese of Toledo, have advocated for state legislation on trafficking since they met with Sen. Fedor to discuss the issue last September.

“The sisters in all the religious communities made calls to all their representatives and senators to get it passed,” says Tiffin Franciscan Sister Mary Kuhlman, chair of the STOP committee.

With passage of the legislation, “the victims of trafficking will not be treated as criminals,” says Sr. Kuhlman.

“They won’t be prosecuted, the people who have pimped them will be prosecuted,” she explains.

The legislation also encourages the Ohio Attorney General to establish a Trafficking in Persons Study Commission to study the problem, particularly as it affects Ohio, to review Ohio’s criminal law regarding conduct that involves or is related to trafficking in persons, and to develop recommendations to address the problem and improve Ohio’s criminal law to better address conduct that involves or is related to trafficking in persons.

House Bill 280 also increases penalties for domestic violence toward a pregnant woman, and requires that every abortion clinic prominently display a “no coercion” sign.