I think you overestimate the average New Yorker reader's awareness of human trafficking.

I barely knew Moldovia existed...just getting an image of that place was pretty interesting, particularly the breakaway portion across the Dniester river. The relationship between Moldovia and Dubai, the way that former trafficked women are co-opted into betraying girls when they get back home... lots of interesting little tidbits there.

It's true that a reader could pretty well imagine what life as a sex slave is like without reading the article, but I think the cultural context was what the article was all about, not the forced prostitution itself.