Originally Published at Fox News
By Brie Stimson
California lawmakers on Friday advanced a bill that would decriminalize loitering with the intent to work as a prostitute, with supporters claiming the current law unfairly targets minorities, according to reports.
The law could also empower sex traffickers, Stephany Powell of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, warned, according to the Bee.
“It severely cripples law enforcement’s ability to arrest and prosecute human traffickers and sex buyers. If it’s repealed, sex buyers would have immunity,” she said.
She argued that lawmakers should focus on anti-discrimination laws that raise minorities out of being forced into sex work.
“The assumption becomes that women who are marginalized want to do sex work and it almost becomes, ‘Well, since that’s what you are doing, we are just going to make it legal so you can do it,’” she said, according to the Bee. “If we’re going to talk about things like systemic racism, then use this energy to fix the system where sex work does not have to be their only choice.”
