FRANCE (BDCi) – French lawmakers will next week test France’s long history of liberal attitudes toward sex by introducing a bill outlawing prostitution.
The move comes with France gripped by coverage of a prostitution scandal involving former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has been linked with a pimping ring operating out of luxury hotels in the northern city of Lille.
Lawmakers from all parties represented in the National Assembly, France’s lower house, will on Tuesday present the bill to outlaw the purchase of sex, said Guy Geoffroy of the ruling UMP party.
Prostitution is not illegal in France though several linked activities are, including soliciting, procuring and operating a brothel, while playing for sex with someone under the age of 18 is banned. The new bill will target prostitutes’ clients, criminalizing payment for sex.
Earlier this year, the parliamentary commission recommended imposing sentences of up to six months in prison and a $4,040 fine on clients of prostitutes.
The head of the commission, Socialist lawmaker Danielle Bousquet, said it was expected to take several months to vote on the bill.
By: Natania Levine Courtesy: thelocal.fr Photo: chamidefremancourt.com 5 December 2011
10:27 a.m P.S.T