POINT | South Dakota senators failed to protect children from pornography

Guest column by Norman Woods, Family Voice executive director

Seven years ago the South Dakota legislature unanimously declared that pornography had become a public health crisis (Senate Resolution 4). This year, a piece of legislation was finally introduced to help save children from this filth and was moving through the lawmaking process with overwhelming support and bipartisan agreement – until four senators bowed to the will of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and gave the porn industry a pass.

The porn problem is rampant in our nation. This multi-billion-dollar monster is targeting our kids, and we need to stop it. The average age of first exposure to porn is 12 years old, and of the minors looking at porn, 22 percent of them are under 10 years old. This material is not coincidentally finding its way to our children, the industry is targeting them. This is evidenced by the fact that 58 percent of minor’s say their first exposure to porn was accidental. They didn’t go looking for it, it found them.

The problem is striking close to home. Just ask the South Dakota bus driver who said the kids won’t stop watching it while he drives.

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Ask the South Dakota mother whose 9-year-old son recently asked what “anal” meant. He explained that a boy on the bus “watches anal,” and the kids fight over who gets to sit next to him.

Ask the kindergartener who asked a member of Rapid City law enforcement, “What do you do if somebody (another child) shows you porn over and over again even though you ask them to stop?”

Ask the 8th grader who recently approached an adult at their school, seeking advice on how to talk to their parents about downloading a filter because they couldn’t stop watching pornography by sheer willpower.

This sick industry is destroying our young kids and we need to help protect them. Rep. Bethany Soye and Sen. Red Dawn Foster stood up to this multi-billion-dollar monster by spearheading a bill, House Bill 1257, which requires explicit websites to implement an age-verification system to keep children off the site. After the House passed it, it was in the Senate’s hands.

So what happened?

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