Sex workers, human rights organizations, sex trafficking surivors and others voiced their opinions Thursday at a hearing in Washington, D.C., over a proposal to decriminalize prostitution in the nation's capital.

The bill, which is being reviewed by the City Council, would make Washington the first city in the nation to dismiss criminal penalties for prostitution, according to The New York Times . Aside from certain counties in Nevada, selling or paying for sex isn't legal anywhere in the country.

In Europe, prostitution is regulated and legal in a number of countries, including Germany and Greece. In the U.S., the fight to decriminalize prostitution has gained momentum in recent years. Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sen. Kamala Harris of California have voiced their support for some degree of decriminalization.

The legislation has divided many of the district's activists, with some sex workers and national groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the World Health Organization supporting the bill, and some former sex trafficking victims and groups such as the National Organization for Women opposing it.

Some proponents argue that prostitution must be decriminalized in order for sex workers to come forward without fear of arrest if they have been exploited or abused. This way, they can also eventually leave the industry without arrest records .

Tamika Spellman, an advocate for the bill who has worked as a prostitute for more than three decades, argues that sex work helped put her son through college.

"It is an outdated law based on moral outrage," Spellman said, according to The New York Times. "Why are they arresting people for having casual sex? I understand the need to protect people, and there are people being exploited, but not in the numbers that people think," she said.

Some opponents of the bill agree that sex workers should not be penalized, but don't agree on extending decriminalization to pimps and johns. Others argue it will increase prostitution in the district.

Judith Sandalow, executive director of the Children's Law Center, a nonprofit advocating for vulnerable children, predicted at the hearing that the percentage of people willing to pay for sex in Washington would increase by 20% under the legislation, according to The Washington Post.

Some, like Yasmin Vafa, executive director of Rights4Girls, a human rights organization based in the district, have called the bill a boon for sex traffickers.

"This will cause more harm and more exploitation of our most marginalized people. Girls have told us they heard about the bill for the first time from their pimps, who were excited about it," Vafa told the New York Times. "If pimps and sex buyers are on the same side of this legislative proposal, doesn't that say something to the other supporters?"