TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida is poised to become the latest state to have its legislature address pornography as matter of public health – with a slight twist on the verbiage used by the states which have passed similar resolutions.
Sponsored by Rep. Ross Spano (who is also a candidate to become Florida’s next attorney general), the resolution would declare pornography a “public health risk,” as opposed to a “public health hazard,” the term of choice in Utah, or “public health crisis,” the phrase used in a similar resolution passed in South Dakota.
Spano’s resolution, like the others which preceded it, is filled with “findings” and conclusions which present as fact numerous claims about the effect and impact of pornography viewing which are frequently championed by anti-porn activists.
Such claims include that porn is “contributing to the hypersexualization of children and teens” and those who view porn are at “higher risk of developing low self-esteem, an eating disorder, and a desire to engage in dangerous sexual behavior.”
The current version of the bill also flatly asserts “pornography objectifies women, normalizes violence and the abuse of women and children, depicts rape and abuse as harmless, and is related to the increased demand for sex trafficking, prostitution, and child pornography.”
While there are qualifiers in the language which present correlation instead of causality (“research has found correlations between pornography use and mental and physical illnesses,” for example), the bottom line conclusion of the resolution clearly is that porn represents a root cause of a great many societal ills.
The proposed resolution closes by stating “the State of Florida recognizes the public health risk created by pornography and acknowledges the need for education, prevention, research, and policy change to protect the citizens of this state.”
Spano has said he originally wanted to use the term “public health crisis” but opted for “risk” instead, to ensure broader support for the resolution among his legislative peers.
“Anytime you brush up against what people perceive as a foundational constitutional right – the First Amendment, the right to free speech – you’re going to have understandable pushback,” Spano said, adding that the “Supreme Court of the United States has made it clear that states have the ability to regulate obscene material. Obscenity has never been found to be a constitutional right.”
Spano’s resolution passed through the House Health & Human Services Committee by a vote of 18-1. The single vote against the resolution came from Spano’s fellow republican representative, Cary Pigman. Pigman, a medical doctor, said his vote was grounded in the belief Florida faces several bigger health-related problems than the risks presented by porn.
“We have problems with hypertension, with obesity, with diabetes, with Zika,” Pigman said. “We have a whole list of things that are important medically. I’m not so sure that we need to spend legislative time annunciating a specific complaint when we have others that are far more pressing.”
The resolution had its first reading by the full House on January 19. At the time of publication, it is not clear when a vote by the full House may be forthcoming.
