French lawmaker wants to outlaw spanking

updated 11:54 a.m. ET Nov. 15, 2009

PARIS - A French lawmaker says she has proposed a bill to ban corporal punishment, including spanking of children.

National Assembly member and pediatrician Edwige Antier says she believes spanking makes children more "sly, lying and aggressive."

The lawmaker says that after 38 years of medical practice she believes that "children who have never been spanked are better behaved, listen more to adults and are more respectful of their authority."

Antier, a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party, says 18 European countries already outlaw spanking. Her comments appeared Sunday in Le Parisien newspaper.

French schools are banned from using corporal punishment, but no law prevents parents from spanking their children.

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