Texas Judge Strikes Down Anti-Porn Law
Pornography has destroyed our nation’s culture and family life.
Marco Verch via ccnull.de - Image source, CC-BY 2.0It seems that one judge in Texas disagrees. According to Daily Wire, federal Judge David A. Ezra has temporarily struck down House Bill 1181, a new Texas law that now requires visitors of pornographic websites in Texas, such as Pornhub, to verify their age using a form of identification before gaining access to the website’s content. He gave his reasoning for striking the law down:
“The statute is not narrowly tailored and chills the speech of Plaintiffs and adults who wish to access sexual materials. The Court agrees that the state has a legitimate goal in protecting children from sexually explicit material online. But that goal, however crucial, does not negate this Court’s burden to ensure that the laws passed in its pursuit comport with established First Amendment doctrine.”
The court clearly does not agree that the state has a legitimate goal in protecting children from sexual material—the proof is demonstrated in Judge Ezra’s decision. Thankfully, Judge Ezra is only one of many judges whose word is not final.
Adding insult to injury, a representative from a group that represents the porn industry called The Free Speech Coalition, said in an interview, “people could lose their jobs and harm their marriages,” as a result of requiring ID to view porn. Such a statement is grounded in falsehood. If someone is looking at pornography, their marriage is already being severely harmed, which is precisely why we aim to restrict it.
Texas State Representative Nate Schatzline, who was a joint author of House Bill 1181, said in response to the legislative bill:
“Pornography is one of the greatest threats to Biblical marriage, the fight against sex trafficking, and the health and success of the next generation. A recent study showed that over 62% of kids 11-13 years of age, who had seen pornography, reported that their first exposure to it was unintentional. We have the moral obligation to create barriers between the evil pornographic industry and our children, and anyone who opposes us is openly supporting sex trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children”
Throughout our nation’s history, the family was to be protected by law, against any action and behavior that would threaten it. We are reminded of this in Moore v. Cleveland:
“Our decisions establish that the Constitution protects the sanctity of the family precisely because the institution of the family is deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition.”
Scripture is clear that we should flee from sexual impurity and guard our eyes and our hearts.
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.”
Numerous Supreme Court decisions and documentation show that the framers of the Constitution would have excluded pornography as protected speech under the First Amendment. Anyone who claims that pornography or any kind of sexually explicit material is protected under the First Amendment demonstrates a considerable lack of understanding of both the spirit and letter of the law.