TRENTON, N.J. — Republican Assemblyman Jay Webber held a panel in the New Jersey Legislature on Monday in support of his copycat version of the age verification bills being promoted around the country by religious conservative activists, and called adult content “increasingly violent and vile” and “a plague” in related posts and events.
Promoting A 4146, the bill he introduced in April, Webber posted on his X account, “Kids are just a click away from endless adult content that’s become increasingly violent and vile. You wouldn’t sell a person alcohol without verifying the buyer’s age — it should be the same for pornography on the web.”
For Monday’s panel, Webber convened four Republican legislators and one Democrat — Tennille McCoy — to hear testimony from a hand-picked group of doctors, reps for the for-profit age verification industry and “an array of Christian groups that urged lawmakers to impose new restrictions on porn access, citing research that shows minors who consume it show more aggressive sexual tendencies,” the New Jersey Monitor reported.
“You’re two clicks away from having access to porn, which is frightening,” said Republican Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn.
Religious Crusaders, Age Verification Lobbyists Come Out in Support
Webber aims to impose upon New Jersey residents the same age verification restrictions that currently exist in 19 states, all of which are led by Republicans, the Monitor reported.
Also invited by Webber to testify was John Schweppe, director of policy for religious-right think tank American Principles Project, which has repeatedly taken credit for orchestrating the state-by-state age verification campaign and has advocated for a total ban on porn on moral grounds.
Schweppe referred to “New Jersey online porn websites,” which he claims are currently “free to distribute the most hardcore porn.”
Republican Assemblyman Michael Inganamort, also present at the panel, is currently sponsoring a different bill, patterned after a controversial Utah measure, which would require electronics manufacturers to block access to sites with “obscene material” and require consumers over 18 to pay $20 per device to disable such a block, the Monitor reported.
Another panelist was Iain Corby, executive director of the U.K.-based lobbying group Age Verification Providers Association, who has been traveling around U.S. legislatures testifying in favor of the religious conservative-led state bills. Corby recently testified before the California State Assembly, in support of legislative proposals criticized by industry and free speech groups such as Free Speech Coalition and the ACLU.
Webber: Pornography Is a ‘Plague’
On Tuesday, Webber amped up his anti-porn crusade while participating in a United Nations event commemorating the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
The UN event, a statement by the New Jersey GOP explained, “was focused on the adult film industry and how it promotes the sexual exploitation of women and girls and contributes to human trafficking and violence.”
Webber said during his presentation, “Too often, we see that terrible social problems elude and evade lawmaking solutions. The good news on this issue, however, if there is any, is that underage exposure to online pornography is one of those rare social scourges that has realistic policy remedies. Perhaps the best fix is requiring age verification.”
Online pornography, he added, “is a technology-driven problem, so we should meet that problem head-on with a technology-driven solution. Even better, we don’t need the most cutting-edge or sophisticated technology. Age verification is relatively rudimentary and respects individual privacy.
“Age verification will radically reduce, if not stop entirely, our youths’ exposure to online pornography,” Webber claimed. “The importance of this issue is so great, and our practical means of resolving it are so feasible, that all state lawmakers must ask themselves a basic question: ‘When largely solving a plague is within our grasp, how can we not do it?’”
