"There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry," said Merchthild Garweg, a lawyer from Hamburg who specialises in such cases. "The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits."...
"Now that prostitution is no longer considered by the law to be immoral, there is really nothing but the goodwill of the job centres to stop them from pushing women into jobs they don't want to do."
What an amazing departure from common sense! To decriminalize an activity, such as prostitution, does not equal a statement of approval, just a concession that it does not deserve suppression or is not worth the government's efforts at suppression. Of course, the Germans are contemptible if they continue in this fashion, but Americans can take a lesson from this too as we think about abortion, gay marriage, drug use, and other issues. You don't have to approve of something to want it to be legal, and legalization should not be read as a statement that there is no moral basis for opposing a practice. Law and morality are not the same thing, and we are fools if we allow the law to take the place of moral reasoning.
UPDATE: Readers, please note that just because a lawyer says certain provisions of law could be put together in a certain way does not mean those applying the law really will reach that conclusion, especially where the conclusion is outrageous and absurd. I don't think it's the case that German officials have actually made the absurd leap the lawyer warns us about, but maybe it would be a good idea for Germany to clarify its law so that no low-end official makes the mistake and bullies an unemployed woman this way. ALSO: The lawyer's name is apparently Mechthild Garweg, not Merchthild Garweg.
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