Shortly after Canadian parliament members voted to recognize pornography as a public health crisis in December 2016, state legislatures within the United States began to step forward. Legislatures in Utah voted recognizing pornography as a public health crisis and South Dakota legislators followed suit voting unanimously to recognize pornography as a public health crisis.
The South Dakota bill not only recognizes pornography as a public health crisis, it also addresses the issue of sexual abuse and child pornography. "Pornography normalizes violence against and abuse of women and children by treating women and children as objects and often depicts rape and abuse as if it were harmless," the bill states. "Moreover, pornography equates violence towards women and children with sex and equates pain with pleasure which increases the demand for sex trafficking, prostitution, child sexual abuse, and child pornography."
We strongly encourage you to talk to your state legislators about the impending health crisis surrounding pornography and thank those legislators who have stepped out and addressed the issue.