‘They need a way out’: Push to decriminalize prostitution considered on Beacon Hill

BOSTON — Last month, Maine became the first state in the country to partially decriminalize prostitution.

Several bills to make the same change in Massachusetts are currently being considered by the state legislature.

Supporters believe this would throw a lifeline to a group of women who can find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle.

“A lot of the adults in the commercial sex trade industry, a lot of them were brought in as children and they just never made it out,” said Audrey Morrissey, co-director of My Life, My Choice, a Boston-based advocacy group.

She was one of the lucky ones.

“When I was in the life, I was in an area of Boston known as the Combat Zone,” Morrissey said.

She was able to turn her life around and now works with young people who trying to do the same.

“Our mission is to stop the sale of people,” she said.

Morrissey said that people who sell sex don’t really feel good about themselves.

“I remember thinking who is going to want me after this? This is it for me, and so that type of thinking also keeps you trapped,” she said.

So does a criminal record, which makes it much harder to get a job or stable housing, some say.

“One of the issues that this bill is trying to address is how do we help people move out of the sex trade and into a healthy stable life,” said State Sen. Cindy Friedman, a Democrat who is co-sponsoring one bill that would partially decriminalize prostitution.

“The criminalization would remain for the person who is buying the sex. It would take away the criminalization for the person who is providing the sex,” Friedman said.

Katrina Cole, who has a PhD in criminology from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and studies sexual exploitation, doesn’t believe partial decriminalization is a panacea.

“It does reduce demand, which is one of the goals of this type of policy, but in doing that, it forces sex workers to compete for clients through lowering their prices and it limits their negotiation power,” Cole said.

Cole said it would actually be better to require prostitutes to be licensed.

“Then there would be a criminal penalty for buyers for buying from an unlicensed provider, and so this would be kind of a way to ensure that the people who are doing it are doing it consensually,” Cole said.

Morrissey believes any plan must include support for women who want to transition to another way of life.

“They’re thoroughly beaten, and they need treatment. They need a way out. People had to teach me how to live again,” Morrissey said.

Similar efforts to take the legal burden off of women have also been launched in New York, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.

The bills on Beacon Hill are currently waiting to come out of committee.

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