Decrim now world news digest for February 2026

A Win for Sex Worker Rights — Scotland Rejects the Nordic Model

United Kingdom, Scotland

February 3, 2026

Earlier this month, the Scottish Parliament voted down the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, which would have moved Scotland toward the Nordic Model of sex work law, criminalizing the purchase of consensual adult sex. Members of Parliament rejected the bill after their first general discussion about it. This outcome reflects months of campaigning led by sex worker rights organizations who raised serious concerns that the bill would make consensual sex work more dangerous, not safer.

Sex worker rights advocates, organized by Scotland for Decriminalisation of Sex Work, campaigned tirelessly against the proposal, arguing that criminalizing clients would push sex work further underground and undermine workers’ ability to stay safe. Amelia Lavery of Scotland for Decrim described the effort as “tirelessly campaigning for sex workers’ rights and against the Nordic Model, which would have put sex workers — especially the most vulnerable — in danger.”

Other voices echoed these concerns. Jacqui Stevenson, Senior Policy, Research and Influencing Manager at a UK health organization, noted that the bill “would have pushed sex work further underground, undermining the agency of sex workers and increasing the risk of HIV-related harms.”

Policymakers in the Scottish Parliament also referenced evidence in the debate. Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman highlighted research showing that in countries where sex buying is criminalized, sex workers still face criminal penalties through intersecting laws and policing practices, and the enforcement of buyer bans can heighten vulnerability to eviction, deportation, and violence.

These testimonies helped shape a debate grounded in evidence and lived experience, with many of the policy makers concluding that the bill’s harms would outweigh its intended benefits.

Introduced in May 2025 by MSP Ash Regan, the proposed legislation would have criminalized buying sex while claiming to protect people who sell it. It would have shifted criminal penalties onto clients, increasing police surveillance, and leaving in place other laws that continue to punish sex workers for working together or in shared spaces.

Critics pointed out that even if selling sex was technically decriminalized, related offences such as loitering for prostitution, brothel-keeping, and other associated activities, would still put sex workers at risk. These adjacent laws leave many unable to work together or access basic protections.

The defeat of this proposal is significant because it reflects a growing recognition that policies must center the voices and safety of sex workers themselves. Rather than imposing a punitive legal framework, policy makers and advocates underscored the need for evidence-based approaches that reduce harm and respect autonomy and human rights.

As the debate continues, sex workers and their allies remain focused on advancing decriminalization, which is supported by leading global health and human rights bodies, as it decreases violence and exploitation and increases safety, access to justice, and health outcomes.

Scotland’s vote this month is a powerful reminder that when sex workers’ voices are valued and policy is guided by evidence rather than ideology, the result is legislation that protects lives and upholds dignity.

Source portal decriminalizesex.work

Sex worker advocates demand action from the city of Seattle after prosecutors dehumanizing presentation

USA, Seattle

February 10, 2026

Advocates for sex workers, activated by a brutal, dehumanizing presentation the King County Prosecutor’s Office delivered to the city council’s public safety committee about sex trafficking, are demanding action from the city and county to rectify the harm done by past actions and statements about sex work and trafficking.

As PubliCola reported, the prosecutors, who were trying to drum up support for a proposed state law that would make it a felony to pay another person for sex. The presentation included identifiable photos of tortured, brutalized women; a lurid recitation of the objects an anonymous victim said had been inserted into her by force; misogynistic quotes about sex workers from an unidentified online forum; and graphic descriptions of rape and violence against women.

The prosecutors also claimed that every sex worker who opposed further criminalizing sex work had been a victim of childhood abuse, and was therefore speaking against their own true interests because of trauma.

In a letter to the council, which three advocates read aloud at Tuesday’s council meeting, a group of advocates for sex workers, survivors, and people in the sex trade made five demands:

• An acknowledgement from the city of the “selective and exploitative uses of survivor stories, voices, and images” by the committee and the prosecutor’s office.

• An examination of the city and county’s policies and trainings, if any, on “trauma-informed, and non-exploitative uses of survivor voices and stories.”

• An analysis by the city’s Office of Civil Rights on “existing and potential policy approaches to reducing violence and exploitation in the sex trade as well as a review of best practices for incorporating diverse voices of survivors, sex workers, and people in the sex trade while minimizing re-traumatization.”

• Strategies to include more perspectives from people with lived experience of sex work in future policy conversations, and to fund peer-led groups that provide services to survivors and sex workers without requiring that they collaborate with law enforcement

• A public safety committee meeting “dedicated to a presentation about human rights-based, noncarceral, pro-sex worker approach to empower survivors, sex workers, and people in the sex trade and combat violence, abuse, and exploitation within the sex trade.”

On Monday, the Seattle Women’s Commission sent a letter to the city’s Office of Civil Rights with a list of their own requests, including a public statement from OCR Director Derrick Wheeler-Smith calling on the city to “honor and include diverse perspectives in all Civil Rights Work,” including work on behalf of sex workers, survivors, and people in the sex trade.

Source portal publicola.com

Colorado lawmakers to consider decriminalizing sex work among consenting adults

USA, Colorado St.

February 11, 2026

An explosive bill is in the pipeline for this state legislative session. Senate Bill 97 would decriminalize sex work among consenting adults in Colorado.

SB 97 would repeal the state’s criminal offenses of prostitution, soliciting prostitution, keeping a place of prostitution and patronizing a prostitute. It would maintain current criminal penalties for pandering that involves menacing or criminal intimidation and for pimping, but it changes terminology in those offenses by replacing "prostitution" with "commercial sexual activity."

Bill Summary:

The bill requires the statewide decriminalization of commercial sexual activity among consenting adults. It declares that decriminalizing commercial sexual activity among consenting adults is a matter of statewide concern and expressly preempts statutory or home rule city, town, city and county, or county ordinances, resolutions, regulations, or codes criminalizing commercial sexual activity. The bill repeals the state criminal offenses of prostitution, soliciting for prostitution, keeping a place of prostitution, patronizing a prostitute, and prostitute making display.

 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. The bill maintains current state criminal penalties for pandering that involves menacing or criminal intimidation and for pimping, but it changes terminology in those offenses by replacing "prostitution" with "commercial sexual activity".

The bill makes various conforming amendments, including those related to: Reporting requirements, immunity, affirmative defenses, and criminal conviction records in human trafficking cases; public nuisances; certification by the peace officers standards and training board; and the regulation of escort bureaus and massage parlors. The bill eliminates a court program for persons charged with certain prostitution-related offenses.

Denver7 anchor Shannon Ogden spoke with one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Lisa Cutter, a Democrat representing Jefferson County. Cutter acknowledges the uphill battles this legislation faces, but says it has proven to provide protections and improve safety of sex workers in parts of Australia, New Zealand and Belgium, which have also decriminalized sex work.

"These people that are involved in sex work need to have some protections," Cutter said. Sen. Nick Hinrichsen, D-District 3, Rep. Lorena Garcia, D-District 35 and Rep. Rebekah Stewart, D-District 30, are also sponsoring the bill.

"Legalizing would require regulatory structure, and that’s not what we’re doing, and that’s per the request of sex workers," Cutter said. "This is what they feel would be the best path for them, and it’s what’s proven in other countries to be effective."

Cutter added that the discussion surrounding this bill should not be about whether sex work is right or wrong, and that she does not believe it will cause in uptick in sex work. She says the reality is, it happens and will always happen, but there are ways to make everyone safer.

"People involved in sex work often have a difficult time leaving," Cutter said. "They get caught in that cycle because it’s on their record and maybe they can’t buy or rent a house. And maybe they can’t get another job. It’s definitely an impediment."

She also said removing legal penalties can help sex workers feel safer to seek health care and ask questions of their purchasers.

Source portal denver7.com

‘No doubt’ decriminalising sex work will return to new parliament of South Australia state

Australia, Adelaide

February 25, 2026

Deputy Premier Kyam Maher said there was “no doubt” decriminalising sex work will be revisited by the next parliament, but a Greens candidate said for it to happen, the major parties must take a stand.

“When this has come up, I’ve voted in favour of calling what is work, ‘work’, and ensuring that at that very fundamental level, there is those workplace protections every other worker enjoys in South Australia,” Maher said, addressing the social services sector at a forum held today.

The forum – held by South Australian Council of Social Service, Uniting Communities and InDaily – featured Labour Deputy Premier Kyam Maher, SA Best’s Connie Bonaros, independent candidate Tammy Franks, Liberal Michelle Lensink, Greens candidate Melanie Selwood and Fair Go for Australians’ candidate Chris McDermott.

In relation to the sex work topic, Greens candidate Melanie Selwood – who is hoping to join continuing MLC Robert Simms in the parliament’s Upper House – said major parties needed to stop considering issues like sex work as conscience votes.

“The Greens remain committed to decriminalisation of the sex industry,” Selwood said.

“When it comes to LGBTQIA+ reforms or issues that predominantly affect women, it often comes down to a conscience vote for the major parties.

Selwood’s comments came in response to a question from Sex Industry Network (SIN) CEO Kat Morrison, who asked if decriminalisation was on the agenda, and what strategies the candidates would have to promote the rights of sex workers in SA.

Currently, it is illegal to operate a brothel in South Australia and sex work itself is criminalised under state legislation.

Tammy Franks, formerly a Greens member, has sought to pass amendments to the state’s sex work laws in the past, most recently in 2019 when she supported a decriminalisation model.

There have been more than 13 attempts in the past seven years to change state sex work laws.

Both the Labor and Liberal parties consider topics like sex work decriminalisation and abortion legislation as issues of “conscience” meaning each member votes individually and doesn’t have to toe the party line.

Liberal shadow minister for women Michelle Lensink told the forum she had met with SIN and “I have been in your corner for a long time and continue to be”.

Morrison said in this election campaign, SIN is calling for “the government to invest in a future for sex workers”.

“That includes anti-discrimination legislation, the removal of barriers to health, social, and judicial supports for sex workers and, more broadly, the full decriminalisation of the sex industry,” she said.

Source portal indailysa.com.au

Decriminalizing sex work case goes to Alaska Superior Court

USA, Alaska St.

February 28, 2026

The nonprofit Community United for Safety and Protection, or CUSP, filed a formal complaint in the Superior Court for the state of Alaska.

The goal is to stop criminalizing consensual adult sex conduct for a fee.

CUSP advocates for the rights and safety of sex workers and sex trafficking survivors.

“It would take the criminalization out,” Amber Batts, a writer and member of CUSP with firsthand knowledge about how sex workers are treated, said.

The filing asserts it violates the Alaska constitution’s guarantee of the right to privacy by “intruding upon private decisions regarding bodily autonomy and consensual sexual relationships without a compelling government interest. CUSP alleges the law violates equal protection principles because it disproportionately targets workers while failing to criminalize accepting sexual services for a fee in the same manner.”

The suit also says there is an increased risk for people who face some of the highest rates of gender-based sexual violence in the country.

A spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Law says the state hasn’t been served yet and can’t comment.

“As a general matter the Department of Law’s role is to uphold and defend the state laws, which we will do in this case as well,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.

An email seeking comment to the Anchorage Police Department hasn’t been returned as of Friday afternoon.

The sex business can be hugely lucrative and has a long history in Alaska. According to historian David Reamer, within Alaskan attitudes toward sex worker and red light districts there was “significant social acceptance.”

Nationwide, prostitution is legal in some parts of Nevada and partially decriminalized in Maine.

Colorado could become the first state to fully remove criminal penalties for prostitution among consenting adults if the legislature passes a bill this year. Some in law enforcement have spoken out against the bills.

“Although the bill applies only to “consenting adults,” history shows coercion, fraud, addiction, and economic pressure are often present, making true consent difficult to determine,” Sheriff Joseph Roybal, who began his law enforcement career in 1995, wrote in the Denver Gazette.

CUSP has a history of advocating for change for sex workers, which includes getting the public, and lawmakers, from linking sex work to forced labor.

“By listening to the perspectives of actual sex workers and trafficking survivors, those who say they care about sex trafficking can create effective strategies to prevent trafficking and support survivors without stripping sex workers or trafficking survivors of their rights,” reads the groups website.

Source portal alaskasnewssource.com