INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and attorneys general from 22 other states came together in support of a Texas law that requires porn websites to have an age-verification system before they can be accessed.
In an amicus brief filed with the United States Supreme Court earlier this month, Rokita, as well Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, and officials from other states, argued that “states have undisputed power to restrict minors’ access to obscene content, including pornography.”
This brief is in relation to a Texas law that requires websites that publish pornography or sexual material to verify their users’ age. In March, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Bill 17 into law, a similar age verification law that went into effect in July that implements age verification rules in the state of Indiana.
Since that law was put into effect. there have been many legal challenges to it in Indiana and adult pornography sites like PornHub have prevented Hoosiers from using their sites and platforms, stating “mandating age verification without proper enforcement gives platforms the opportunity to chose whether or not to comply.”
The brief argues that an age verification law is a “modest regulation of the multi-billion-dollar pornography industry which inflicts harm on children along every dimension – ‘psychological, social, emotional, neurobiological and sexual,'” the brief said. Officials stressed that the U.S. Supreme Court has “repeatedly upheld age- and identity-verification requirements as predicates to engaging in adult activities.”
“States had the power to require identification checks in the pre-internet age, and they retain that power now,” the brief read. “Indeed, many other adult industries – gambling, tobacco, alcohol – already employ age-verification technology. If anything, the ubiquity of internet pornography makes the States’s interest in protecting children stronger now than ever before.”
In the brief, the officials argue that states can constitutionally enact rules for minors that would be unconstitutional for adults. Officials also claimed that there are “compelling reasons that minors should not access hardcore pornography,” arguing that it could have a negative impact on mental health, as well as “misleading attitudes toward relationships.”
“Not only do states have the authority to prevent pornography websites from providing children with hardcore porn, but they have a responsibility to do so,” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement to FOX59/CBS4. “The truth is that exposure to porn — much of which touts sexual violence — causes real harm to minors. It hurts them emotionally, intellectually, psychologically, sexually and socially. So, there are compelling reasons to prevent minors from viewing pornography. Children are a precious gift from God. As a public servant, I’ll always support parents in the mission to protect our kids.”
The brief can be read in full in the document below:
