Should Nevada ban brothels? Or would legalizing prostitution in other states boost our economy?

In a speech to the Nevada state legislature, during which he talked about the need to create jobs and boost commerce in the state, Senator Harry Reid floated a radical idea: Ban the brothels.

"When the nation thinks about Nevada, it should think about the world's newest ideas and newest careers, not about its oldest profession," Mr. Reid said during Nevada's bi-annual legislative session in late February. "If we want to attract business to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come to outlaw prostitution."

In Nevada, prostitution is legal in counties with fewer than 400,000 citizens, which does not include Las Vegas (a.k.a. "Sin City") or Clark County (which is where nearly 75 percent of the state's population lives, according to 2010 U.S. Census data). There are currently about two dozen legal brothels in the state, which has allowed legal prostitution since the early 1970s. Approximately 1,000 women work in the state legally as prostitutes; brothels range from small trailers to fancy resorts, some of which also employ cooks, bartenders, maids, and managers.

"Here we are being safe and professional and earning a living, and he wants us to end it? Absolutely not,"Brook Taylor, who works as a prostitute at the famed Bunny Ranch, told the New York Times. "We're entrepreneurs. We're in a business for ourselves."

Pete Goicoechea, a rancher and Nevada Assembly Minority Leader, told Reuters that legalized prostitution "pales in the face of the real issues facing the state." Goicoechea, who represents parts of eight counties where brothels operate, also said that he has "never heard of companies having concerns" about prostitution in those areas.

We can't help but wonder: Why is it that politicians who are so focused on trimming their budgets are willing to lose revenue when it comes to moral issues-especially ones that concern women?

Lest anyone start ranting about the Republicans, let us point out that Senator Reid is a Democrat. The state's other senator, Republican John Ensign, called prostitution a "county by county issue" and told KTNV-TV that Nevada should not ban prostitution.

Though prostitution was legal throughout the United States, it became illegal in almost every state in the early 1900s, thanks in large part to the Christian Women's Temperance Union. But still, there's no denying that the world's oldest profession hasn't been hit by the recession the way others have. Would legalizing it boost the economy and preserve jobs? Or should it be illegal everywhere, including rural Nevada? Why or why not?

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