Florida lawmakers are pushing for a resolution to declare pornography a health crisis.

As our state advances in this process, at least five others have moved ahead and passed resolutions acknowledging the public health crisis that pornography creates, according to FighttheNewDrug.org. They are Arkansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.

The state legislatures of Florida, Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, and West Virginia are currently reviewing resolutions of the same kind.

Fight the New Drug, an organization that creatively educates the world about the harmful effects of pornography, stated in its 2017 NoPornovember global fight for love campaign, “When a Governor signs a state resolution to declare pornography an issue of public health concern, they are not banning pornography or punishing its consumers. Instead, they are giving a platform to the research and declaring an emphasis on the issue to develop and promote resources to educate and protect citizens and communities.”

Florida legislative leaders Representative Ross Spano and Senator Kelli Stargel are sponsoring the Resolution as HR 157 in the Florida House of Representatives and SR 480 in the Florida Senate, respectively.

 

Highlights

According to SR 480, “pornography objectifies men and women, normalizes violence and the abuse of men, women and children, and depicts rape and abuse as harmless, thereby increasing the demand for sex trafficking, prostitution and child pornography…”

The resolution further states that pornography is potentially harmful to the user’s mental and physical health. SR 480 highlights how this habit also affects personal, marital and familial relationships.

To this effect, Stargel shared her sentiment about the reality of pornography’s modern day ease and extent of access. “Hopefully we can start making people aware that it’s not just back in the old days when one had to seek porn, maybe go to get a magazine and hide it under their bed,” said Stargel. “Nowadays, an innocent person just trying to go on the internet to do something totally unrelated has the opportunity and is exposed to pornography. I think that needs to stop.”

 

What can the Resolution Do?

Liza Smoker, an attorney and anti-human trafficking advocate, noted that, if passed, the resolution can shed light on the link between pornography and sex trafficking. She noted further that the anti-sex trafficking community has given the resolution overwhelming support.

“Consider the Flanders case where men lured women to south Florida to act in a commercial. Instead, the women were given the date rape drug and filmed in sexual acts,” she said. “The footage was sold online and in Florida businesses to people who were unaware the women were being raped. These men are now serving life sentences for sex trafficking. This happened in our own backyard, and we all have a social responsibility to reduce the demand.”

Pastor Jay Dennis, author of The Pastor’s Resource Guide: Pornography in the Church, shared that this resolution gives the church an opportunity to approach such a difficult subject. Pastors can distribute the resolution and help congregants understand this issue, he said.

To access the resolution, visit peoplenotporn.com/facts-education/#resolution.

 

Lydia Hicks serves as editorial assistant at Good News and is a graduate of the Bob Schieffer College of Communication at Texas Christian University. She can be reached at [email protected].