A sex worker activist attends a demonstration with prostitutes against a proposal to scrap sanctions on soliciting and instead punish prostitutes' customers with fines in Paris November 29, 2013. French lawmakers will start debating today a bill aimed at stemming prostitution with steep fines to clients - a radical switch from the country's traditionally tolerant stance that will give it some of the toughest legislation in Europe. Prostitution is not illegal in France, which has an estimated 18,000 to 20,000 sex workers according to a 2012 report by the Scelles Foundation, but there are laws against pimping, human trafficking and soliciting sex in public. REUTERS/Charles Platiau (FRANCE - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY)