No Slavery, No Exceptions

We are a national coalition fighting to abolish constitutional slavery and involuntary servitude in all forms, for all people.


We envision a United States where all people, without exception, are free from slavery and involuntary servitude and where all people are protected by their state and federal constitution. 

For more than a century, our federal and state constitutions have preserved the right to enslave people as punishment for a crime.

In the very act of passing the 13th Amendment, they created a loophole to allow the practice of slavery to continue, albeit in another form.

Fast forward to our era of mass incarceration and many states have this clause, or a version of it, in their state constitutions, allowing slavery and involuntary servitude to continue.

The Freedom 5

In the 2022 midterms, we supported five states as they campaigned to abolish slavery through historic public referendums on constitutional amendments. Organizers in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont fought for change, with the support of each other and the Abolish Slavery National Network. These efforts against slavery and systemic racism were victorious in four states - Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont. We are proud to have supported them, and will work together to ensure adherence to their new constitutional rights.

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Today, we are organizing in more than 20 states to abolish slavery from state constitutions.

Meet Our Administration Team

Why Now

In the last seven years, eight states have abolished slavery in their state constitutions. In 2018, Colorado became the first state since Rhode Island — the only state to have fully abolished slavery prior to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment — to end the exception and abolish slavery. Following in its footsteps, Utah and Nebraska also led successful campaigns to abolish slavery in 2020. In all three states, the ballot initiatives were the result of unanimous, bipartisan legislative votes.


In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and awakening of so many to the visceral reality of anti-Black racism, more than 20 states are organizing to abolish slavery in their state constitutions.

Five states (Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont) saw referendums on their 2022 midterm ballots, and Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont all passed these measures to abolish slavery with no exceptions.


In 2023, 12 states introduced anti-slavery legislation, and 11 did so again in 2024. Nevadans and Californians saw slavery abolition on their ballots in the November 2024 election, and Nevada became the 9th US state to fully abolish slavery with NO exceptions.


We have momentum!


Join the states that are demanding an end to the exception clause

Puerto Rico: No existirá la esclavitud, ni forma alguna de servidumbre involuntaria salvo la que pueda imponerse por causa de delito, previa sentencia condenatoria.

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PARTNER WITH ASNN

More than 20 states are organizing to abolish slavery in their state constitutions. Contact us for partnership opportunities.

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Max Parthas, Co-Director of State Operations

Max Parthas is an internationally recognized Spoken Word Artist and American Slavery Abolitionist. In addition to numerous awards for his art, he is the recipient of the Missouri CURE Marc Taylor Activism Award, the Will Bell Humanitarian Award, and the “In The Spirit of Malcom X'' award from MX Media. 

Max is the current Acting Director for the Paul Cuffee Abolitionist Center in Sumpter, SC., Co-Director of State Operations for the Abolish Slavery National Network. Abolishslavery.us. and Co-host/Executive producer of Abolition Today (a unique online modern- slavery abolition episodic master class with an international audience.) abolitiontoday.org