Legalized Prostitution

Article = none , personal opinion

(Some references to a commentary appearing in page 13 Ottawa Sun Oct 1 2010 by Brian Lilley)

So, prostitution is in the news again. A Judge has struck down the laws against it. Laws that were only against communicating or such for purposes of prostitution , the actual act of prostitution is not illegal in this country. And people are all up in arms about how can this be legal here ?

Well... first , when you're crafting a law, you have to make sure it doesn't come and bite you in the rear end , or you'll be forced to strike down your own creation. That's probably why prostitution itself is still legal , there wasn't any way to make it illegal without someone taking a hit somewhere from an over broad law.

And I'm looking at an Ottawa Sun article , a commentary , that goes on and on about how prostitution is "wrong" , and the only reasoning I can see is that he wouldn't want his daughter to do it.

There's a lot of reasons , lot of good arguments, why prostitution should be legalized. And there's a lot of good arguments why it should not be. But "I think it's wrong" isn't on either of those lists. Sorry buddy. Nor is "I wouldn't want my daughter to do it"

Much as I might agree with the sentiment , this is how bad laws are made. The kind that come back to haunt you and leave you saying "I didn't mean for that to happen !" and then you wind up voting to strike it down anyways and the whole thing becomes a decade of trouble and wasted effort.

Reviewing his other points we see ...

Netherland and Germany are cited as places of legal prostitution , that still have illegal prostitution , sex workers imported for the task are mentioned.

And so do we ! Yes, I have met a girl at a strip joint who reported she was here from another country and was doing this to send money home to her family. So, I personally know it's happening in Canada. Your argument implies by legalizing prostitution we will cause this to happen here, guess what ? It already is.

Our Wag also argues that while the court hesitates to inject any sort of morality into sexual matters , he thinks they should , arguing "morality underpins our legal system" and points to theft as being immoral.

Umm.... no. Imposing your morality on everyone else was discarded long ago. I don't know why you're bringing it up.

The Judge has decided the laws are bringing harm to the prostitutes by way of driving them underground where they become victems of organized crime , pimps, beatings, and murder because they dare not go to the police

This is the classic case of a law backfiring and doing the exact opposite of what was intended, and I believe she was right to strike it down. The purpose of the law was to protect people, not put them in harms way. It failed that purpose, get rid of it.

My Personal Opinion...

Whether it's legal or not , whether you like it or not , prostitution is going to happen. You have two choices only. Protect the prostitutes, or abandon them to the wolves, that's about it. And our current laws that have been struck down abandon them to the wolves.

Those are your choices, which will you choose ? I choose not to abandon anyone to the wolves.