Morality will always have a basis in law. This doesn't mean you've suddenly opened yourself up to some crack pot religious take over.
So you're comfortable with morality by law only if its your morality?
Why can't a 34 year old man have sex with a 15 year old girl? Because she's a minor? So? What's wrong with screwing a minor?????
Morality.
Because we recognize that child abuse has a damaging affect on children. I've always considered the laws that make a 19 year old a rapist for screwing around with his 16 year old girlfriend ridiculous and archaic. A good example of why laws shouldn't be based on morality.
Why can you give your kidney away but you can't sell it? Why aren't you allowed to sell or trade your organs????
Morality.
No, the potential for abuse is so overwhelming, we do it to protect sick, poor, or dying people from being pressued into selling their organs at the hands of an unscrupulous doctor. Morality doesn't enter into it.
Why can't you have sex with dead people?
Morality.
Probably morality based, but how often are there necrophelia cases in our courts? Its not like the corpse is going to press charges. And it could be argued that those laws are in place to protect the surviving loved ones from the trauma of knowing their loved ones' remains were violated by some weirdo.
Why can't you have sex with animals in most cities?
Morality.
This could fall under animal cruelty laws. I suppose some could argue animal cruelty laws are morality laws. Again though, how many casing of animal ****ing are in our courts today? Its a law that affects virtually no one in our society.
Laws regarding prositutions affect hundreds of thousands if not millions of people directly and all tax payers indirectly due to funding of vice squads and clogging of our courts with "crimes" were no party was injured.
I'm perfectly comfortable acknowledging that removal of the legal barrier between sex & retail fuels a demand that often leads to sex slaves and human trafficking thus it should be illegal.
And landscaping and other such fields fuel a demand for cheap labor that often leads to hiring illegal immigrants.
It's often associated with criminal activity thus it should be illegal.
Its associated with criminal activity because its illegal, not because of some inherent criminal element in prostitution. During prohibition, alcohol was associated with crimianl activity? What was the reason for this alcohol or prohibition? I think we all know the answer.
The women are often desperate when they get into the business and their health is measured often by their ability to get out of it thus it should be illegal.
Most people take their job because they need to. You think janitors want to be janitors? No, they took it because its the best job they could get. Same is true for many prostitutes.
As to them desiring to get out of the field, many people take jobs without planning on staying their forever. We'd consider a 40 year old who still flips burgers and wears a paper hat to be a loser. So people often measure their success by their ability to get out of minimum wage entry level jobs. That's no reason to ban them.