Utah Guv Signs Resolution Deeming Porn A ‘Public Health Hazard’

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Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) signed a resolution Tuesday that declares pornography a “public health hazard,” specifically in the way it treats women and children.

The resolution states that pornography is “a public health hazard leading to a broad spectrum of individual and public health impacts and societal harms.” It also states that pornography “equates violence toward women and children with sex and pain with pleasure, which increases the demand for sex trafficking, prostitution, child sexual abuse images, and child pornography.”

Jon Cox, a spokesman for the governor, said that one of the aims of the resolution is to make young people understand the “addictive habits” of pornography, according to CNN.

CNN reported the resolution has no real teeth as it doesn’t ban pornography in the state. But Utah is the first state to make such a formal declaration against pornographic materials.

This is one of two pieces of legislation dealing with porn that Herbert signed today, according to CNN. He also signed HB 155, which makes the “willful failure to report the child pornography” a class B misdemeanor in the state.

Herbert’s campaign expanded on the governor’s views on pornography on Twitter:

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