Perhaps being a lawyer myself gives me a slightly different take on this situation, but let's put that to one side...
My original comment was made purely in the spirit of an alternative perspective against the tide of advice saying no. And why should there be an alternative perspective? Because getting published in the mainstream is really hard and if someone offers you publication (meaning your masterpiece is going to be on the shelves in shops) it needs to be taken very seriously. Of course you need to protect yourself and you need to be aware of the risks, but how would you feel looking back on your "career" if that was the only shot you ever got and you turned it down? How do you know it would not have turned out OK...or even really well?
In fact my sister was confronted with a very similar dilemma in 2015. She had been trying to be published since the late 80s and at last she was offered publication by a small but mainstream publisher - after nearly 30 years of trying. She showed me the contract because she had concerns about it - and rightly so. It was a bit of a rip off, overwhelmingly favouring the publisher but I knew she was torn, despite her mild outrage at the contract. I said to her: "Do you have more books in you?" and she replied, that yes, she had lots more ideas. So I said: "If you have confidence in your ability to keep producing, you could just see this contract as an investment in your writing future. This will at least get you onto the shelves and develop your brand."
So she signed the terrible contract. The book has sold over 50,000 copies in Australia (which is a lot here) - she's been featured on major network TV - she's done heaps of appearances and readings - she's made some money (not near as much as she should have) - and now she's very well known in her sector of the market and has signed a much better contract for her next book. She is now in exactly the place she wanted to be as a writing professional.
So, what is the moral to this story? Certainly do your homework and go into ANY contract with your eyes wide open. Publishing has always been hard but now it's just impossible - impossible to get picked up in the first place and impossible to be treated properly by desperate publishers getting nastier every minute in their fight to stay afloat. It's easy to claim the moral (and yes, sensible) high ground in this world but that doesn't make a more risk taking approach equally valid and worthy of discussion. If you reckon you have more books in you, don't be too quick to turn down the chance to get your name out there.
The other moral is just because you disagree with something doesn't make you right. When it comes to publishing, no-one knows.