Supreme Court says porn harms kids and states can regulate it

TUPELO, Miss. — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in FSC v. Paxton. The Court, in a 6-3 opinion, held that states may constitutionally require the porn industry to verify users are adults before granting website access. The American Family Association (AFA) and AFA Action, joined by more than 60 state legislators from 15 states, filed an amicus brief urging the Court to uphold state age-verification laws. The Paxton case concerns a Texas law, H.B. 1181, that requires pornographic websites to verify users are adults before allowing access to pornographic content. A coalition of pornographic websites sued the state of Texas over the law.

“AFA Action is committed to stopping Big Porn from harming children. Just like Big Tobacco, Big Porn is profiting from addiction. They are creating lifelong addicts, regardless of the serious psychological and societal wounds porn causes. Age verification is just the beginning. CSAM (child sexual abuse material), rape videos, videos profiting from trafficking women and children: none of it is legal. More and more states are moving to shut it down,” said Dr. Jameson Taylor, director of the Center for Government Renewal with AFA Action.

More than 20 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly struck down a similar federal age-verification law in a 5-4 decision. The current Court has reached a different conclusion.

“Twenty years ago, the Court held that states could not require age verification because parent-initiated filtering software seemed to protect kids without restricting protected speech. We argued that parent-filtering software has not curbed the explosion of internet pornography and that the First Amendment allows states to protect kids from sexually graphic speech. Today, the Supreme Court agreed with our arguments. Big Porn can no longer hide behind the First Amendment to harm kids. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his team did a phenomenal job defending the Texas law,” explained AFA Action Senior Legal Fellow Trey Dellinger.

Concluded Dr. Taylor, “Watching porn is bad for kids. It’s bad for adults. Porn degrades women and men and is a violation of human dignity. Thanks to laws like these, Big Porn will be forced to retreat back into the shadows. Their products are harmful and cause damage that can last a lifetime. States need to aggressively regulate porn, just as they regulate other harmful products, like tobacco, gambling and marijuana.”

AFA Action is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to advancing biblical family values in society and government by shaping public policy through education and advocacy. The mission of AFA Action is to inform and mobilize individuals to strengthen the biblical foundations of America by persuading individuals with the truth of the Gospel, challenging the lost to repent, promoting societal values that are consistent with Scripture, restraining evil and exposing the works of darkness, motivating people to take a stand on cultural and moral issues, and encouraging Christians to bear witness to the world the love of Jesus Christ. Find AFA Action Alerts here. 

For more information on the American Family Association, visit www.afa.net or follow AFA on Facebook or Twitter @AmericanFamAssc.        

For more information on AFA Action, visit www.afaaction.net or follow AFA Action on Facebook or Twitter.

Jameson Taylor and Trey Dellinger are available to the media to provide analysis and commentary on FSC v. Paxton. For interviews, contact [email protected], Beth Bogucki, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, Dawn Foglein, ext. 100, or Daniel Moyer, ext. 104.