Why is prostitution illegal?

I think one of the biggest arguments against is that many of the woman are being trafficked and there against their wills...not all are "willing", many, many are slaves.

Shutting it all down decreased the numbers of women being sex slaves.

Yep, I think it would be way better if it were regulated, screened for disease, etc. I think men would be way less inclined to try get someone drunk, lie, con his way into someone's bed, if he knew it was acceptable to choose a willing partner in a safe environment for a reasonable price. For those that say men would be more likely to cheat, I supposed that's possible but he would be way less likely to come home with a terrible disease. And why would you want to be with someone who only is faithful because of the lack of options or opportunity?

Legalize it, and use the taxes to help pay for education or health insurance.

What happens is that women end up traffic as commodities. If you want to make a deal with a woman that she should give you sex for money, assuming everything goes according to plan, no one is the wiser. But you make laws, and then laws can be exploited and pretty soon you have a situation like Russia in the Ukraine or the Turkey area ... a well known area for sex trafficing, for centuries. I think it is better that it is illegal so that it does not get out of hand.

One other kind of nastier side of this issue is that this kind of sex is about power, not just sex. A lot of men want to abuse women and believe there should be a segment of the female population, usually minority that they can do whatever they want with. These women often cannot find employment in legal jobs so they end up putting their lives on the line for money to survive on. Then they are so miserable they use drugs. Prostitution is not a regular job.