December 7, 2024
LEXINGTON, Ky. (KT) – The Family Foundation of Kentucky has joined an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting a law protecting children from online pornography.
The High Court will hear Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton in January. Thirty allied family policy organizations have joined the amicus brief in supporting Texas’ protections for children against online pornography.
Free Speech Coalition concerns a challenge to a Texas law that requires websites that host pornography as more than 33% of their total content to verify the age of their users. The Supreme Court’s decision to accept this case follows a Fifth Circuit decision that upheld Texas's age verification law.
“We urge the High Court to uphold these commonsense laws protecting children from harmful pornography,” said David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation. “The Fifth Circuit was right to uphold Texas's law, which protects children from harmful online content. States have a duty to protect children from the massive porn and social media industries that should be protecting kids rather than profiting from them.”
Walls noted he was thankful for the passage of HB 278 in the Kentucky General Assembly. He said the Family Foundation will keep advocating for more productions for children online, including from the harms of cellphones and social media.
HB 278 by Rep. Matt Lockett unanimously passed in the 2024 General Assembly. The Senate passed the bill 36-0 with an adopted amendment by Sen. Gex Williams containing the online protections for children. The bill was passed with a bipartisan vote of 96-0 in the House.
The amicus brief notes, “Much like tobacco or other controlled products, pornography’s impacts are even more harmful to young minds due to its addictive nature, and access to it should be properly age gated ... As such, its effects on children are especially poignant, as this content is exceedingly harmful to their ability to form healthy romantic relationships as adults and their ability to function well in society as they mature into adulthood.
“Under the law, our society has recognized that children’s capacity is limited both neurologically and in maturity. Because of these limitations, legislatures are well within their authority to place boundaries on children that in some circumstances would not be permissible if applied to adults.”
Read the brief here.
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This story first appeared in Kentucky Today.
