are already afforded the rest of the country. Following in the steps of Margo St James, a Palm Beach county woman is launching her own such crusade challenging the constitutionality of Florida’s laws against prostitution. The woman, whose identity is confidential, is trying to follow in the path of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. “Government just has to get out of the bedroom,” says Jane Roe II. She continues, “If Roe v. Wade gave women the right to privacy and the right to do with her body as she chooses, why isn’t prostitution legal?”(Decker 3). Of course, this is a sensitive issue with the feminists in Florida sharply divided. “Prostitution, whether by choice or not degrades women,” says Shena Moss, president of the South Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women (Decker 3). However, Siobhan McLaughlin, the Florida State Director of NOW, supports Jane Roe II’s arguments. In the same article, “Ex-Call Girl Tries to Legalize Prostitution” in the Christian Science Monitor, Ms.McLaughlin says, “Certainly if a woman decides on this career of engaging in the sex industry, that is essentially her business. If she’s not being coerced, and if she has other options, then maybe in some ways she does find that empowering”(Decker 3). In fact, empowerment of prostitutes holds the greatest promise of the prevention of the spread of AIDS and venereal diseases. From the health point of view, it is surely self-evident that an open and above-board sex industry, in which workers are not stigmatized and outlawed, would be to the benefit of all concerned, prostitutes and clients alike. The state could and should provide health facilities for sex workers. Health advocates, quoted in Politics of Prostitution, argue that legalization allows prostitutes to work without fear and implement safety measures. Studies from the same sour...
