Do Georgians Want More and Younger Prostitutes?

Radio Commentary, WMVV 90.7 New Life FM, January 22, 2010
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. On February 26th, 2009 House Judiciary Chairman Wendell Willard introduced H.B. 582 to drastically change the prostitution law to prosecute offenses of prostitution and sexual offenses for adults only. If that were to pass, anyone under 18 could legally engage in the oldest profession without being charged as a prostitute. Then, on the first day of this session, Senator Renee Unterman introduced S.B. 304 to repeal the prostitution law for anyone under 16. Both are attempts to remove the stigma of prostitution from minors.

While some minors may be forced into prostitution, others voluntarily choose prostitution as a way to make money. So, changing the law to accommodate an illegal, immoral, unhealthy, destructive and degrading way of life won’t prevent permanent physical and emotional damage to the children. Not only that, legalizing prostitution for boys and girls will remove the legal barrier that keeps some of them from going into prostitution because they, simply, don’t want to go to jail.

Also, removing the penalty for young prostitutes will multiply the number who choose it as a trade and make others fair game for enticement into a very dangerous and destructive lifestyle. But, there’s something else very troubling about this. These bills have no lower-age limit, leaving me to wonder whether any child of any age will be protected from use in prostitution.

Georgia cannot lower the under-age prostitution rate by removing the penalty. Arguments about this are the same as those used about distributing contraceptives to children and we know how that turned out. Now, teen pregnancy is common, almost half of all births are to unwed girls, couples live together before marriage, STDs are rampant and colleges have coed dorms.

The question is, do we want more under-age prostitution or less? If we want less, we must come out with a better plan than this. So, please make two contacts. Call Senator Smith at 404 656-0034* and ask him to keep S.B. 304 in his committee. Then, call Representative Willard at 404 656-5125* and ask him to keep H.B. 582 in his committee. While legislators may have good intentions, both bills are equally bad. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.