Republican delegates will vote next week at their national convention on whether or not to declare pornography a public health crisis. The proposed amendment to the party platform sounds very similar to a resolution passed in Utah this year.
North Carolina delegate Mary Forrester offered the amendment that would make changes to the party’s platform on pornography. But it was Utah that was the first state to declare porn to be a public health crisis.
“The resolution just really sparked the national conversation on this issue,” says Dani Pinter, Director of the Law Center at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “I think the fact that this really brought on national discourse on the topic is what motivated the RNC to take it up as well.”
Republican Senator Todd Weiler of Woods Cross sponsored the non-binding resolution in Utah. He said he was not involved with the effort to change the RNC platform, but he welcomes the move.
“I think it is a recognition that there is a growing movement across the country, you know, on this subject, which is what I was hoping for. I think it’s something that we should be talking about as a nation, so I’m very pleased that this national dialogue is going on.” Weiler says he hopes to see 10 to 12 states pass a resolution next year like the one passed in Utah.
