Paying for sex in France now illegal

French MPs have passed a law that makes it illegal to pay for sex and imposes fines of up to €3,750 for clients paying for sexual acts.

Apart from getting fined, convicted people also have to attend classes to learn about the conditions faced by prostitutes.

The controversial law makes France the fifth European country to criminalize the clients of prostitutes, joining Sweden, Norway, Iceland and the UK.

It has taken more than two years to pass the controversial legislation because of differences between the two houses of parliament over the issue.

The law also establishes measures to help prostitutes find new work, and makes it easier for foreign sex workers to acquire temporary residency permits.

France’s Socialist government welcomed the new legislation. The bill’s architect Maud Olivier said “this law is essential to ending the idea that it is normal to buy someone’s body.”

But some of France’s nearly 30,000 prostitutes did not share Olivier’s conviction. About 60 demonstrators, including sex workers, protested the new law outside the Parliament, some carrying a sign that read, “Don’t Liberate Me, I’ll Take Care of Myself!”