RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Texas woman who says she was forced into prostitution at a Nevada brothel has filed a lawsuit seeking to outlaw bordellos in the state under a century old U.S. law prohibiting the transport of women across state lines for prostitution.
She also wants a judge to order the state to deposit $2 million in a fund annually to assist people seeking to exit the sex trade, including providing mental health services, job training and tattoo removal.
Lawyers for Rebekah Charleston cite the Mann Act of 1910 in the suit filed Monday in federal court in Reno.
The law banned interstate or foreign commerce transport "of any woman or girl for prostitution, debauchery or for any other immoral purpose."
Legal brothel operators argue women who work there are safer than those who engage in illegal prostitution on the streets.
