Prostituting compassion

Thanks to New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's prostitution scandal, people are debating prostitution's legality again -- and with an unsettlingly clinical tone.

Over on National Review's The Corner, bloggers are heaving ponderous theoretical terms like "legal positivism," "minarchist," and "utilitarian." John Derbyshire says, "To a lover of liberty, it's hard to see why a woman shouldn't sell her favors if she wants to." Andrew Stuttaford asserts, "The idea that the state can stop an adult freely deciding to prostitute what is, after all, his or her own body is yet another example of big government run wild."

Mark R. Levin disagrees: "But is not the better view that law is supposed to reflect the traditions of society, which have developed over time?" Lisa Schiffren says women don't choose prostitution freely, and legalizing it "will only make it harder to make a convincing moral argument against selling one's body or giving it away too freely."

On Slate, Emily Bazelon writes, "You don't have to be a moralist or a prude to buy the argument for banning prostitution. But if you're so inclined, it's an easy one to take apart." People like Bradford Plumer suggest that prostitution is here to stay, so we might as well decriminalize it, regulate it, and improve working conditions. Some advocate Sweden's system, which punishes the men who pay for sex but not the women who sell it.

What seems lost in all the Adam Smith-quoting and argument-dissecting, however, is compassion for the men and women trapped in prostitution. One prostitute says, "We all know it's dangerous. But … people need money to live." An ex-prostitute says men paid to rape her: "Getting out seemed impossible because my sense of self-worth was non-existent. I have no solution as long as men pay to do this terrible thing to us." Another prostitute's defiance may be even more tragic: "I believe that my body is my property and I do what I wanna do." MotherJones.com says some women are so desperate they refuse to be rescued from brothels.

Of course, those in favor of legalizing prostitution twist all of this into a chilling argument: People choose prostitution, and they need it to survive. Should this argument satisfy Christians seeking to mend a sin-ravaged world?