Colorado Bill Would Legalize Prostitution

by Jeff Johnston | February 18, 2026 | Government Updates

Colorado legislators have introduced a bill that would remove all legal prohibitions forprostitution throughout the state.

While Nevada permits prostitution in licensed brothels in specific counties, and Maine has decriminalized selling sex — but not purchasing it, if this bill is passed and signed into law, Colorado would be the first state to fully legalize and regulate “commercial sexual activity.”

Legalizing prostitution would be disastrous for the Centennial State.

SB26-097, “Decriminalize Adult Commercial Sexual Activity Among Consenting Adults,” “repeals the state criminal offenses of prostitution, soliciting for prostitution, keeping a place of prostitution, patronizing a prostitute, and prostitute making display.”

Public solicitation for prostitution could become commonplace in cities and towns, exposing even young children to this perversion of God’s good design for relationships and sexuality.

The state law would preempt any city, town or county ordinances and regulations that criminalize commercial sexual activity. It also “repeals the offense of pandering when it involves knowingly arranging or offering to arrange a situation that permits a person to practice prostitution.”

SB26-097 is sponsored by four seriously misguided Democrats: Senate Majority Whip Nick Hinrichsen, Senate Assistant Majority Leader Lisa Cutter, Representative Lorena Garcia and Representative Rebekah Stewart.

The bill declares:

Criminalizing prostitution endangers adults who engage in consensual sexual activity. Fear of criminal punishment among consenting adults engaged in commercial sexual activity encourages physical, emotional, and structural violence against sex workers, subjects them to economic crimes, and increases resistance to harm-reduction practices.

SB26-097 also states:

Like workers in other fields, sex workers deserve the opportunity to screen their clients to ensure a safe transaction. Criminalizing client conduct creates a disincentive for prospective clients to share personal information, which inhibits sex workers’ ability to maintain their safety.

But the truth is, prostitution is not like “work in other fields.” It is inherently damaging — spiritually, physically and emotionally — for both the prostitute and the “client.”

As the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) documents, prostitution — even legalized — preys on vulnerable people:

Many people in systems of prostitution suffer from vulnerabilities and marginalization. Common adverse experiences that are pathways to prostitution include childhood sexual abuse, homelessness, and poverty.

Other factors associated with prostitution involvement include a history of foster care, not having a high school degree, being a racial minority, an immigrant, an indigenous minority, or LGBT person, as well as “entry” into prostitution as a child (i.e., sex trafficking).

NCOSE further notes that legalizing prostitution does not make prostitution safe:

Prostitution creates trauma that cannot be regulated or decriminalized away. Prostitution is inherently harmful. Prostitution results in a wide range of devastating physical harms and/or psychological trauma to those sold in it – even when it’s legal or fully decriminalized.

Legalizing prostitution actually leads to even more coerced sex trafficking, as Janice G. Raymond points out in the Journal of Trauma Practice. When examining legal prostitution in the Netherlands, researchers found more illegal sex trafficking was taking place:

One argument for legalizing prostitution in the Netherlands was that legalization would help to end the exploitation of desperate immigrant women who had been trafficked there for prostitution. However, one report found that 80% of women in the brothels of the Netherlands were trafficked from other countries. In 1994, the International Organization of Migration stated that in the Netherlands alone, “nearly 70 % of trafficked women were from CEEC [Central and Eastern European Countries].”

Researchers found the same increase in sexual trafficking in other countries where prostitution is legalized, such as Germany and parts of Australia.

NCOSE concurs, explaining:

Brothels, illicit massage parlors, escort agencies, and online platforms are overlapping systems of prostitution and sex trafficking occurs in all of them. Normalization of prostitution expands demand for paid sex. This emboldens sex traffickers who see this as a conducive “business” environment. Cross-national studies have found higher levels of human trafficking in countries with legalized or decriminalized prostitution.

Raymond notes that decriminalizing prostitution also increases child prostitution, citing studies from Australia and the Netherlands. She writes:

The Amsterdam-based ChildRight organization estimates that the number of children in prostitution has increased by more than 300% between 1996 –2001, going from 4,000 children in 1996 to 15,000 in 2001. ChildRight estimates that at least 5,000 of these children in Dutch prostitution are trafficked from other countries, with a large segment being Nigerian girls.

Nor does legalizing prostitution make it “safe.” NCOSE explains:

In another article from the Journal of Trauma Practice “Prostitution and Trafficking in Nine Countries,” the authors concur, citing the harms to women:

We found that prostitution was multi-traumatic: 71% were physically assaulted in prostitution; 63% were raped; 89% of these respondents wanted to escape prostitution, but did not have other options for survival. A total of 75% had been homeless at some point in their lives; 68% met criteria for PTSD.

These harms — and more – still occur when prostitution is legalized, “Our findings contradict common myths about prostitution … that prostitution is qualitatively different from trafficking, and that legalizing or decriminalizing prostitution would decrease its harm.”

There are more harms to prostitution, which you can read about here, here, here, here and here.

Colorado politicians want to legalize selling sex, which is intrinsically harmful, degrading for all those involved and leads to greater destruction.

They somehow believe that taking God’s beautiful gift of sexual expression, designed to unite a husband and wife, with the potential for creating new life, is something that can be commercialized like any other business.

Coloradans must make their voice heard and oppose this horrific bill.

SB26-097, “Decriminalize Adult Commercial Sexual Activity Among Consenting Adults,” has been introduced in the Senate and assigned to the Judiciary Committee, but no hearing date has yet been scheduled. You can find information about contacting the sponsors of the bill here.

Related articles and resources:

Colorado Committee Kills ‘Children Are Not for Sale Bill’

Counseling Consultation & Referrals

How to Prevent Sexual Exploitation of Your Child

How to Fight Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking: What You Need to Know

Meet Three Heroes Working to Protect Colorado Children

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)

NCMEC’s 24/7 call center number: 1-800-THE-LOST (843-5678)

Prostitution Proliferates in California after Decriminalizing Loitering

Protecting Your Child From Sexual Abuse

Reclaiming Hope: Resources and Mentoring for Sex Trafficking Survivors