Porn access age verification: Does adult anonymity trump protecting minors?
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this week in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, a case generated by legal challenges to a law passed in Texas in 2023. The law required pornography distributors on websites which contained more than one-third “sexual material harmful to minors” to require “reasonable age verification methods.”
The original law passed the Texas state legislature by a 164 to 1 margin. Eighteen states have passed similar laws in the recent past and with similarly lopsided majorities.
Clearly, tens of millions of American parents want the government to protect their children from sexually explicit material on social media and the internet. Strictly speaking, this case is not about banning adults from accessing pornography.
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It is about society’s obligation and responsibility to protect and shield minors from being exposed to pornographic material. This bill would allow adult Americans to view all manner of adult erotica, only requiring that they identify themselves, and provide proof that they are at least 18 years of age.
Why is this a problem? One of the biggest allures of online pornography is anonymity. People want to access these sites without running the risk of being “outed” as a user of such material.
At the most basic level, the question is simply this: “Does the adult’s right to anonymously access pornography sites trump society’s responsibility to protect children from such damaging material?”
Let us be clear. Exposure to such sexually explicit material would do no one, whatever their age, any good. Imagine, however, the damage done to a 10- or 11-year-old child who is exposed to such adult material.
Technology has demanded a better response from our lawmakers and judiciary. As Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr. observed, “Technological access to pornography obviously has exploded,” adding that “the nature of pornography…has also changed.”
Research reveals that Chief Justice Roberts is correct. Pornography has become increasingly hardcore and deviant. Also, the age at which children have exposure to pornography has fallen from 16 to 11 or 12 in the last decade.
In its arguments defending the law, the State of Texas notes that “Through smartphones and other devices…children today have instantaneous access to unlimited amounts of hardcore pornography,” citing a study in their legal brief that 53% of children possess a smartphone by age 11.
We as a society have both the right and the obligation to protect our children from having their hearts and minds warped and poisoned by exposure to sexually obscene material. The Supreme Court has a great opportunity to strike a blow for decency and for children by upholding Free Speech v. Paxton.
Furthermore, it would be moral dereliction of duty to address this issue and not talk about the damage hardcore pornography has done, and is doing, to our people and our country.
Pornography in the age of the internet and social media is akin to a subterranean river of immoral slime ready to ooze up through the internet connection in every home in America. I can tell you in my role as a pastor and Christian minister of pornography’s ability to twist, distort, pervert, and degrade God’s gift of sex in so many heartbreaking and life-destroying ways.
I have personally witnessed its destruction of marriages, ministries, and lives. We should all, as Christians, rededicate ourselves to teaching God’s purposes for human sexuality, and to protecting ourselves against this immoral toxic waste. And we must all insist that our society protect our innocent children from exposure to such soul-destroying material.
Please join me in praying that the Supreme Court justices will do the right thing and uphold this law.
Dr. Richard Land, BA (Princeton, magna cum laude); D.Phil. (Oxford); Th.M (New Orleans Seminary). Dr. Land served as President of Southern Evangelical Seminary from July 2013 until July 2021. Upon his retirement, he was honored as President Emeritus and he continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor of Theology & Ethics. Dr. Land previously served as President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (1988-2013) where he was also honored as President Emeritus upon his retirement. Dr. Land has also served as an Executive Editor and columnist for The Christian Post since 2011.
Dr. Land explores many timely and critical topics in his daily radio feature, “Bringing Every Thought Captive,” and in his weekly column for CP.
