Quote Originally Posted by Philipvs Vallindervs Calicvla View Post
I think your and misunderstanding me.

Prostitution is not necessarily abuse, but pimps are usually abusive, giving prostitution a veneer of respectability by making it legal has the potential to turn them into just "bad employers" which in turn has the potential to increase the abuse because the abused women are no more likely to file a civil suit than go to the police.
If the act prostition is illegal, the prostitutes are less likely to go to the police as they'll face prosecution themselves. If it's pimping that is illegal, pimps will have (further) incentive to coerce women into submission as to prevent them from going to the police. If the customers are the ones who can be prosecuted, that opens the way to extortion and blackmail, and further encourages the coercion of prostitutes in order to keep their mouths shut, even if only to protect the clients.

It seems pretty obvious that having legal and regulated prostitution at least opens the possibility of effectively reducing the abuse. I've seen several people here argue that legalizing will make things worse, but not a lot of arguments to back that up, or at least not convincing ones.