Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can find help and discreet resources on the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by calling 1-800-656-4673.

(NewsNation) — At least 250,000 young British women have been exposed to repeated sexual exploitation, according to a new report released last Tuesday.

The Gang Rape Inquiry, commissioned by British MP Rupert Lowe and led by survivor Sammy Woodhouse, has identified networks of grooming gangs operating throughout the United Kingdom, which the report described as predominantly composed of Pakistani Muslim men.

For decades, the report says young British women — many of them white — have reported rape, gang rape, trafficking, torture, forced pregnancy, forced religious conversion and lifelong trauma. The report says fear of being accused of racism has prevented political institutions from acting.

Grooming gangs involve multiple perpetrators coercing, manipulating, and deceiving children in sex to create the illusion of consent, according to the UK government.

Grooming gang survivor Sammy Woodhouse calls for accountability

Woodhouse says she met her abuser shortly after her 14th birthday at a local shop. She says Arshid Hussain was 24 years old when he first approached her.

Hussain was reportedly known to police and social services as “dangerous,” Woodhouse says, but authorities did not act.

“I was abused for two years mentally, sexually, and physically. I was also exploited to commit crime as well,” she said. “I was missing from home for days, weeks, and months at a time, and I missed out on a lot of my education as well.”

Woodhouse says she became pregnant at 14 and was forced to have an abortion. When she became pregnant again at 16, she was allowed to keep the child.

She says her experiences led her to become an activist. She played a key role in commissioning the Alexis Jay Report, which found conservative estimates of at least 1,400 child victims between 1997 and 2013.

That report eventually led to a criminal investigation and Hussain was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Sammy Woodhouse helps spark new report after ‘government refuses’

Woodhouse says MP Rupert Lowe launched the inquiry after the government declined to do so, as public figures including Elon Musk were drawing attention to the issue in the UK. The inquiry called on survivors, family members and whistleblowers to testify.

“What we’ve done is we’ve looked at the data throughout different towns, and that’s how we’ve been able to come up with the estimate [of victims],” Woodhouse said. “But, as I say, in my opinion, there will be a lot more victims.”