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(LifeSiteNews) — A new Alabama law will require age identification to access pornographic websites beginning October 1.
The requirement may not only protect kids but all residents from the harms of sexually explicit content.
HB 164 requires pornographic websites to register with the state, verify the age of users, and display a warning about the harms of their content.
“Pornography is potentially biologically addictive, is proven to harm human brain development, desensitizes brain reward circuits, increases conditioned responses, and weakens brain function,” one warning states.
“Exposure to this content is associated with low self-esteem and body image, eating disorders, impaired brain development, and other emotional and mental illnesses,” another required warning states.
The sponsoring representative said the bill is a victory for the mental health of children.
“We are dealing with a mental health crisis exacerbated by children’s easy access to adult content,” Representative Bob Robbins stated, according to The Montgomery Independent. “I am proud to pass a bill which makes major strides to protect young minds and addresses issues plaguing societal growth.”
It passed with wide bipartisan support, with a 101-1 vote in the state House of Representatives and unanimously in the state Senate. Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill into law on April 18.
The requirement to verify age, rather than just take someone’s word on it, may also cause the pornographic websites to stop operating in Alabama. In other states where age verification legislation has passed, websites have chosen to stop operating, including in Utah and Virginia.
“[Pornhub] has had to quit doing business in a growing number of Republican-led states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Utah, and Virginia, thanks to laws requiring age verification in recent months,” LifeSiteNews reported in March.
Florida recently passed an age verification law that will go into effect in 2025.
Georgia also passed age verification legislation in April, as recently reported by LifeSiteNews.
Pornography is both morally and medically problematic. In addition to showing nudity and sexual activity – images which may live on the Internet forever – it also has proven links to psychological conditions.
A 2023 paper in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease found “stressful experiences, anxiety, and depression are strongly related to pornography consumption.”
The authors of the paper also suggested it can lead to long-term problems forming healthy relationships.
They wrote:
Although addiction to pornography is still not recognized as a disorder, it may represent a severe social and epidemiological problem, mainly because some findings suggest that viewing pornography in childhood and adolescence may negatively influence forming of sexual identity and relationships due to unrealistic gender stereotypes of pornographic roles, relations, physical perfectionism, and unrealistic body image.
“We can expect severe consequences of the Internet pornography exposure and addiction at approximately 10 to 30 years from now, when generations mostly affected by pornography consumption will experience body image dissatisfaction at their middle age or later, which may influence a future epidemic of mental disorders mainly depression and anxiety, and increased suicidal tendencies in population.”
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