Spanish Congress supports ban on pimping

According to Adriana Lastra, deputy of the Socialist Party, the current Criminal Code in Spain does not prevent pimping adequately. That is reported by Protestante Digital. Lastra's initiative reads that the current legislation allows situations of sexual exploitation to occur continuously. Therefore, the proposal "seeks to articulate the necessary criminal response, choosing to punish pimping in a general way (…) without requiring the exploitation relationship."

If the proposal is accepted, anyone who "uses violence, intimidation or deception, or abuses a situation of superiority or need or vulnerability of the victim to force a person of legal age to go or remain in prostitution, will be punished with prison sentences of three to six years and a fine."

In addition, the bill adds that prostitutes are considered victims of crime, Protestante Digital reports. Therefore, anyone who visits a prostitute participates "directly in the framework that sustains this serious violation of human rights", the proposal reads. It also adds that prostitution clients should be criminalised.

Adriana Lastra defended her proposal in the Lower House on Tuesday. She pointed out that Spain is one of the countries with the most prostitution in 2021 and argued that there "will be no equality as long as women's bodies continue to be sold." According to Lastra, prostitution clients buy the submission of a woman. "There is no freedom in brothels. The values that sustain it are the cruellest machismo." Moreover, she linked prostitution to human trafficking, which she called incompatible with democracy.

Critical voices are a minority

In addition to the ruling party United, We Can, the largest opposition party, the People's Party, has promised to support the proposal when it comes to the table.

Marta González from the People's Party says that "prostitution is not comparable to other work activities" and that she "intends to abolish it." Furthermore, they call prostitution a form of violence against women.

Also, the party Vox supported the proposal, even though the party placed some question marks on a few clauses. Its spokeswoman said that prohibition only is "useless". Therefore, she requests the development of a strategy that helps prostituted women to step out.

Opponents of the proposal accuse the Socialist Party of confusing human trafficking with legal prostitution and call the proposal "paternalistic." According to Pilar Vallugera from the ERC, the bill is a "lack of respect for the agency and freedom of women." In addition, opponents are afraid that prostitution will go underground, which will worsen the situation for women as they are unprotected.

However, the critical voices are a small minority. Therefore, it is likely that the proposal will be passed.