Harris Silences Prostitution Legalization After Years of Advocacy

As Vice President Kamala Harris reverses her stance on policies from her time in the Senate and continues her campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, she remains conspicuously silent on the issue of legalizing prostitution.

The 59-year-old presidential candidate’s last comment came in 2019, before he withdrew from the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

In an interview with The Root at the time, Harris said she supported legalizing “sex work.”

“I think so,” she told the outlet.

“I think we have to understand that it’s not that simple. … There’s an ecosystem around that, which includes crimes that harm people. And when it comes to those issues, I don’t believe that anyone who harms another human being or profits from their exploitation … should be exempt from criminal prosecution.”

Speaking about “consenting adults,” she said that “we really have to be mindful that we cannot criminalize consensual behavior as long as no one is harmed.”

Harris made similar statements during her campaign for San Francisco District Attorney’s Office in 2003.

“Consensual sex between consenting adults should not be a subject of prosecution,” Harris said, as reported by the New York Post.

In her previous statements, she also indicated that she believed prostitution is closely linked to violent crime and victimization, emphasizing her commitment to prosecuting “sexual abusers” and “statutory rapists.”

“I don’t think there should be a blanket approach to the issue of prostitution, in any direction, especially when it comes to child prostitution. We know that in San Francisco we have a real epidemic of that,” she said at the time, according to the outlet.

To make matters even more interesting, an unearthed clip of a 2008 appearance she made on CNN shows Harris being confronted by a “sex worker” named “Starchild,” who claimed she wanted to become “an honorary sex worker.”

His claims came from a sex work activist group, the Erotic Service Providers Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP), which cited her statements.

FLASHBACK: Kamala Harris laughs when man quotes her saying she was an ‘honorary sex worker’ – CNN, 2008 photo.twitter.com/NvtTHIYJTU

– Alexandra Datig | Front Page Index 🇺🇸 (@alexdatig) August 19, 2024

However, when it came time to vote on Proposition K, a proposal that would decriminalize prostitution in San Francisco by banning police from using public funds to investigate it, Harris was strongly opposed.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous, in case there’s any ambiguity about my position,” Harris said of the measure at the time, according to the New York Times. “It would be a welcome mat for pimps and prostitutes to come into San Francisco.”

“We have a habit of protecting victims, not criminalizing them.”

The measure was rejected: 59 percent of residents were against it.

While Harris’s stance on many of her campaign policy issues has been questioned, she has declined to touch her current position on prostitution. The Harris campaign did not respond to several questions from The Post about the issue.