A High Price for Playing Around : City could reduce the demand for prostitution by highlighting the extreme health risks

The problem of rampant prostitution in some parts of the San Fernando Valley has been attacked on many fronts, but something has been lacking. That is the public health approach, and a simple, direct appeal to common sense.

Sure, some of the motels and inns that cater to prostitutes have been heavily fined and their owners ordered to clean up their acts. Yes, neighborhood groups and individuals have staged protests.

We know that the sex-for-money auto traffic has been diverted with barricades to give some relief to afflicted communities. And yes, we know that the city and its police force have resorted to arresting previously convicted prostitutes in certain areas for talking to drivers, even if it turns out that they were only hitchhiking or offering directions to a motorist.

But a recent news story brings our point home. The headline said it all: “Warrant Is Issued for Prostitute With HIV. . . .” The outrage here was that Municipal Commissioner Richard L. Brand released the prostitute on her own recognizance, prior to sentencing, even after she had admitted plying her trade despite being infected with the AIDS virus.

It strikes us that some who seek sex for money would have second thoughts if they were forced to confront such frightening possibilities. And we wonder why the fight against prostitution does not invariably include several sobering statistics.

Consider, for example, a 1991 RAND Corp. study of 638 prostitutes in this region. The survey found that 33% tested positive for the hepatitis B antibody, and 34% tested positive for past or current syphilis infection. And, for comparison, a Howard University study of prostitutes in Washington, D.C., found that half the subjects carried the AIDS virus.

Consider also that homeless youths, who often fall into prostitution as a source of income, are 10 times more likely to carry the AIDS virus than their counterparts in the general population. Ask world health officials why nations such as Honduras and Thailand have the highest AIDS caseloads in Latin America and Southeast Asia, respectively, and you get one answer: prostitution.

Success in reducing crime of this nature must include a strong attempt to reduce demand. One approach is to emphasize the extreme public health risks taken by customers and, by extension, their families. We do not believe, for example, that a certain film star would have approached a certain Los Angeles prostitute if he had known why there was an outstanding warrant for her arrest at the time. And the reason for the warrant? She had failed to supply a court with the results of an HIV test.