Legalizing prostitution in New York is just a bad idea

Some New York lawmakers want to legalize prostitution.

This should be an interesting debate to have in the midst of the #MeToo movement.

Criminalization of sex work leads to exploitation, according to a Daily News op-ed written by state Sens. Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar. Having a record for prostitution takes choices away from people. If people have no choice but to sell their bodies, they are more likely to be trafficked.

Whatever happened to providing other opportunities for people so that they don’t have to sell their bodies at all, legally or otherwise? That’s what government should be working on.

Legalizing prostitution actually makes the government itself the exploiter. Because now government can make money off the commercialization of human flesh.

Legal brothels and individual prostitutes will no doubt be taxed if sex work is legalized. There will no doubt be all manner of licensing fees. Can you imagine the regulatory hoops that a legal brothel would have to jump through? And you thought restaurant inspections were tough.

Never mind the support bureaucracy that will out of necessity have to spring up around legal sex work. Birth control will have to be provided. And abortion services as well to take care of unintended pregnancies. Medical personnel to deal with sexually transmitted diseases. Mental health workers to deal with any psychological fallout. More inspectors. And more police.

What a bonanza for government and unions. It could be the biggest jobs program in American history.

And how exactly does legalizing prostitution make it less likely for a sex worker to be abused or exploited by a customer or a pimp? Although, to be fair, we’re probably going to have to come up with a different name for the boss of the sex workers. “Pimp” has such negative connotations.

And what’s the guarantee that legalized sex work will eliminate the black market? And who’s to say that sex traffickers still won’t bring people into the country illegally to work in legal brothels?

If a woman or a man wants to sell their body for profit, more power to them, I guess. It’s their body. They can do what they want with it. I can’t think of too many parents who’d be proud if their child made that choice. But kids do a lot of things that parents object to.

But does that mean that government should facilitate it? Does nobody in government care how the tax coffers are filled? Where’s the moral leadership? Do we want New York to become a mecca for sex tourism? Why are we catering to the lowest common denominator?

It seems there’s nothing that New York won’t decriminalize. You can pretty much ride mass transit for free as long as you don’t have any shame about ignoring the fare box or jumping a subway turnstile.

Certain criminal offenses won’t even get you arrested anymore. You barely get a ticket. And if you don’t pay your ticket, don’t worry. Nobody’s going to issue a warrant and come after you. And if you actually are arrested, your bail is covered, so you won’t have to spend any time in jail.

Legalized weed. Legalized prostitution. Legalized sports betting. It’s like the crazy “Pleasure Palace” world that Biff built in “Back to the Future Part II.” Is that the world we want to live in?

No thanks.

Tom Wrobleski wrote this piece for the Staten Island Advance.