Elizabeth Smart joins push to create 3-digit emergency number for sexual abuse survivors

OGDEN — Sexual abuse survivors deserve support and a better tomorrow, says Elizabeth Smart, and one of the ways to strive for that is making resources to help them more accessible.

To that end, she and several others took part in a panel discussion Tuesday to advocate for victims of sexual abuse and trafficking, simultaneously pressing for creation of a three-digit emergency phone number survivors can call for help. Smart survived her own abuse ordeal at the hands of a man and woman who kidnapped her from her Salt Lake City home in 2002 and raped her over a nine-month period before she was rescued.

"It should be like 9-1-1. It should be like stop, drop and roll," Smart said, referencing the technique recommended for those whose clothing catches on fire. "It should be something that everyone knows so if anyone else in the future is raped or abused, they know what to do instead of trying to navigate it alone by themselves."

Tuesday's event at Shepherd Union on the Weber State University campus in Ogden was hosted by Why Awareness Matters Safety, or WAM Safety, and Wendy Jensen Nicholls, who leads the group, also pressed for a new emergency phone number. Utah lawmakers considered a measure during the 2026 session to that end, HB411, but it stalled, and proponents plan to refile a bill during the 2027 session.

"There's so many incredible resources out there that unless you have like a Ph.D. in trauma, you don't know where to go," Nicholls said. "And when it happens in your own family, it's so confusing and it's so stressful. ... If we have a three-digit number, it's simple."

Utah Sen. Heidi Balderree, R-Saratoga Springs, plans to sponsor the measure and she also addressed Tuesday's gathering. The proposed number would be akin to 9-1-1, used to reach first-responders in emergency situations; 9-8-8, a suicide hotline; and even 8-1-1, used to find locations of underground utility lines.

As is, there may be longer, 10-digit phone numbers that can be called to reach out for help, Balderree noted, but those being trafficked may not have regular access to a phone. Creating a three-digit emergency number for them that can be more easily remembered may increase the odds they can access help "in the chance that they have a few seconds or a minute" to make a call, she said.

House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, briefly addressed the group, expressing general support for efforts to combat abuse and trafficking.

"I think we need to do more to kind of step up, come together and realize that there's more of this happening than any of us realize and recognize," Schultz said. "I appreciate Wendy and others that are speaking out and pushing back."

HB411 would have called on the Utah attorney general and the Utah Department of Health and Human Services to petition the Federal Communications Commission to launch efforts to create a three-digit National Human Trafficking Hotline.

Indeed, Nicholls said there are efforts in many states around the country for a three-digit trafficking hotline. Callers to the number would find a "trauma-informed expert" on the other end who can guide them to resources for help.

"It's ... getting them together in one resource so you call one number and then they guide you as to where you need to go to get the support and help," she said.

Smart and other speakers also recounted their own stories of surviving rape, sexual abuse and being trafficked at Tuesday's event. "This is not something that happens in another country. It happens in Utah, right here in our own home," Nicholls said.

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