Your own body is a gift from God that you should not control how you use it, as long as you do not violate the rights of others. Therefore, prostitutes have the right to use their bodies as they see fit, without being stigmatized by the law. The legalization of prostitution will lead to prostitution taking place in supportive environments that pose no danger to the prostitute and her clients. Others who support the decriminalization of prostitution suggest that it could reduce violence against women. Erin Fuchs` article, which takes the side of legalizing prostitution, shows why legalization can do more harm than good to women. According to Fuchs, “Prostitutes in America (mostly women) are vulnerable to violence from clients and pimps. A study conducted in San Francisco found that 82% had been assaulted while working and 68% had been raped. Another study of Colorado Springs prostitutes found that they were 18 times more likely to be murdered than non-prostitutes of their age and race. While this article provides reasonable and understandable evidence, it is unreliable because it does not provide details about the origin of the statistics, and a “San Francisco study” is a very general and broad term. This study provides relevant evidence if true, but similar evidence from different geographic locations would make its argument more palatable. The legalization of prostitution will push the government to divert its resources to other useful activities. Governments spend a lot of money on campaigns to condemn prostitution.
These resources can be used for other purposes such as education or health care in the country. The police spend a lot of time tracking down and arresting prostitutes, while many criminals harass the public. With the legalization of prostitution, the police will hunt down real criminals instead of harassing harmless prostitutes. Prostitution is a source of income for those who practice it. With the current rise in unemployment in the country, it is of paramount importance for the government to legalize prostitution. Since many prostitutes have a low educational profile and it is difficult for them to find decent work, prostitution must be legalized. This would result in prostitutes being respected by the public. This minimizes the stress to which prostitutes are exposed, which leads to further stress-related crimes. Those who oppose the legalization of prostitution have a number of reasons to support their argument. First, they argue that prostitution plays an important role in the spread of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes and chlamydia. Sex workers, by their commercial nature, are high-risk groups in the spread of STDs. Most sex workers are forced to have sex by unprotected clients, such as condom use, which increases their likelihood of contracting STDs (Loff & Fairley, 2000).
In addition, sex workers have multiple sexual partners, most of whom do not know their HIV/AIDS status, which increases their chances of contracting the disease. In addition, an infected prostitute with a large number of sexual partners can potentially transmit the disease to many clients. Prostitutes are money-oriented and don`t pay attention to whether clients use protection or not. Prostitution increases the spread of sexually transmitted diseases because clients who engage in sexual acts with prostitutes are married and transmit the infections to their partners. Another reason for the high prevalence of STDs among prostitutes varies from region to region. It is true that in countries in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, the use of drugs such as heroin injecting and needle sharing are responsible for the rapid increase in HIV/AIDS pandemic rates. However, the argument that prostitution increases the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases does not hold water, as the high rates of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases due to prostitution are due to anti-prostitution laws that do not protect prostitutes. The relationship between the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and prostitution varies from region to region. In some countries, the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among prostitutes is high, while in others it is low and they appear to play a minor role in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (Loff & Fairley, 2000). In the United States and Europe, for example, the spread of HIV/AIDS is not considered to be of particular concern.
However, in some regions such as Africa and Asia, there are large numbers of sex workers who are impacting the overall structure of the epidemic. The marginalization of prostitutes and the criminalization of prostitution may mean that persecution and surveillance of this group hamper efforts to provide prevention programs.