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A bill to decriminalize prostitution failed in a Louisiana House committee Tuesday after a hearing in which current and former sex workers delivered sometimes emotional testimony about being marginalized because of their occupation.
New Orleans Democratic state Rep. Mandie Landry voluntarily deferred her House Bill 67 to decriminalize prostitution after it was clear the House Criminal Justice Committee was going to kill it on a vote.
Landry and other supporters emphasized the bill wouldn t legalize prostitution or rollback laws against sex trafficking, which forces people, including minors, into sex work.
But opponents testified that decriminalization would increase trafficking, wreck more lives and sends the wrong message to children.