If France's upper house approves the bill, it will mean that any person found guilty of the crime of encouraging extreme thinness can face fines of up to 45,000 euros or they could get three years in prison.
French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot explained that the new bill would help stop information being given out by pro-anorexia websites that help girls and young women to starve themselves.
Roselyne Bachelot is reported to have said: "Encouraging young girls to lie to their doctors, advising them on foods that are easier to regurgitate and inciting them to beat themselves up each time they eat is not freedom of expression.These messages are death messages. Our country must be able to prosecute those who are hiding behind these websites."
The law could also affect fashion editors who publish photographs of very thin women as role models.
