Article 19 of the constitution states: "The private actions of people that do not offend in any way the public order and morality, nor damage a third person, are only reserved to God, and are exempt from the authority of the magistrates.
[7] For example, in San Juan, publicly offering sex services for money is punishable by up to 20 days in prison.
[2] Between 1870 and World War I the country developed a reputation as "the port of missing women" as a result of Jewish white slavers and pimps who took advantage of poverty, unemployment and pogroms in Eastern Europe to recruit young Jewish women into prostitution in South America with false promises of marriage.
[13] In 2013, filmmaker Gabriela Böhm released a documentary film In Raquel’s Footsteps investigating Jewish participation in the sex industry in Argentina in the early 20th century.
In 2003, the Telefe channel made a television comedy series called Disputas expressing the horror and filth of the common Argentine prostitute, it starred the actresses Mirta Busnelli, Belén Blanco, Dolores Fonzi, Julieta Ortega and Florencia Peña.
[20] As part of the backlash after her murder, Santa Fe's notoriously corrupt Public Morality Police were disbanded.
Traffickers exploit victims from other Latin American countries in Argentina, particularly the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Brazil.
[25] In 2016, the Municipality of Ushuaia was ordered to pay restitution to a victim after being found complicit of facilitating trafficking by failing to adequately regulate brothels.