A proposal to reduce the penalty for prostitution to a finable offense in Pittsburgh could be coming soon if a City Council member is successful.
Under the ordinance to be introduced by Councilmember Barb Warwick, prostitution would remain a crime in Pittsburgh, but would be reduced from a misdemeanor with potential jail time to a finable offense.
“Sex work is a victimless crime, right?” said Warwick. “The folks who are prosecuted are overwhelmingly women, people of color, trans folks, almost never the folks soliciting the work and for those folks they are working, they are often times especially, if its in the street, it’s survival sex work.”
Warwick says the goal should be to get the sex worker help, but the punishment hinders that ability and adds police should focus on the people that traffic them and use their services.
The bill will be introduced to council Tuesday.