France makes paying for sex illegal

Paying for sex in France is about to get a lot more expensive.

France has joined a growing number of European countries that criminalize clients of prostitutes. Click to read more..

The French National Assembly outlawed the hiring of prostitutes while eliminating penalties for sex workers. Paying for sex services now carries a fine of 1,500 euros ($1,700). Offenders may be fined up to 3,750 euros ($4,260). And required to attend classes about the conditions of sex workers

according to the National Assembly's website.

Meanwhile, sex workers will no longer be fined or jailed for public soliciting. And foreign sex workers actively trying to get out of prostitution can be given a six-month residential permit and state funding to prevent prostitution.

Under the new law, pimping and brothels remain illegal, while it is legal to offer your body for sale but illegal for someone to buy it.

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