Why legalization might be a mixed bag for prostitutes

For a long time, I thought there was an open-and-shut case for legalizing prostitution. Even setting aside the matter of the state telling women what they can do with their bodies, how could governments possibly defend a law that forced some of society's most vulnerable people underground, into needlessly dangerous situations?

Adam Radwanski

Some of the criticisms of Tuesday's Ontario Superior Court ruling have so inane as to reinforce that view. But I have to admit that my feelings on this subject have been a little more mixed since my ride-along this summer with Lorna Bruce, the London police officer who does outreach work with street prostitutes.

For starters, rest assured that the ban on bawdy houses – one of the laws struck down in Ontario – has very little to do with these women being on the street. They're in rough, rough shape – working to support drug addictions most of them developed before they started selling themselves. The reason they're not working in-house somewhere is that nobody would have them.

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