There are many interesting books and articles on this subject. I’ve read “The Lost Sisterhood, Prostitution in America” 1900 -1918, by Ruth Rosen, and “Their Sisters’ Keepers” by Marilynn Wood Hill. There is a good article on the subject at this site.
I’ve also read several other books, to do with prostitution in Victorian and Regency England, and Napoleonic France, but I don’t remember the titles or authors at this moment.
The lives of prostitutes were indeed nasty and short, by and large. They did get frequently pregnant, but I recall reading somewhere once that a large number of different partners sometimes seems to render a woman less fertile. As well, men then as now often paid for oral sex, which suited the prostitute as well then as it does now. Less wear and tear on the equipment, so to speak.
Abortions were common, whether induced by herbs/plants or surgical means, and often killed the woman and just as often rendered her sterile.
Girls as young as 11 were commonly set to this work, and few of them were still on the streets after their 30th birthday. The conditions of their lives were appalling and heartbreaking. They were usually illiterate and ignorant, often country girls caught up by “white slavers”, and once “in the life” it was hard to get out. It did happen, though. Prostitutes were, then as now, often addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Sobering reading, really, if anyone takes the trouble to read about it. There is precious little romance in it. Brothels were not like sorority houses, few girls grew up dreaming of being a whore - just like now, when you stop to think about it.
One thing I remember reading was that prostitution in Victorian London was widely regarded as being the “worst” in the world, and that there were more child prostitutes in London of that era than anywhere else.