PROVIDENCE, R.I — A push to outlaw prostitution conducted indoors may be headed for the rocks.

Senator Rhoda Perry had sponsored a bill criminalizing prostitution and sanctioning those who permitted it in their facilities.

In Rhode Island, soliciting for sex is illegal on the street. But the law has a loophole allowing prostitution in places like massage parlors and brothels.

Perry’s bill would have closed the loophole. But now she’s backing away from it, after lobbying from the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.

They say arresting prostitutes in massage parlors and brothels means punishing the wrong people.

The A-C-L-U argues police should target the customers and people running the brothels.