WASHINGTON — Morality in Media (MIM) wants 2012 presidential candidates to state their position on the enforcement of federal laws concerning what it calls “obscene” and “illegal” porn.
The latest salvo against the adult industry was launched today by the group’s bipartisan Coalition for the War on Illegal Pornography.
"The Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to the harm of pornography and has not initiated a single new federal obscenity prosecution since President Obama was inaugurated," said Patrick Trueman, Morality in Media president and former chief, U.S. Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. "We need presidential leadership on this issue."
Although current federal laws prohibit distribution of “obscene” porn, according to MIM, it claims the laws are not being enforced.
The Coalition said peer-reviewed research shows that porn is at “pandemic levels” and leads to addiction among many children and adults and is a significant cause of broken marriages and the sexual exploitation of children and women. “It leads to violence against women and an increase in child pornography and increases the demand for sexual trafficking and child exploitation.”
"We want assurances that the next President will agree to make the prosecution of illegal hardcore pornography a priority of the U.S. Department of Justice. Only then will the harm begin to subside,” Trueman said.
Trueman, who was in charge of adult obscenity prosecutions during the Reagan and Bush I Administrations, claimed that prosecutions of the nation's top pornographers not only led to a dramatic decrease of porn, but also helped stop the production of “violent-themed pornography such as rape films, as well as themes involving children.”
The group is calling on citizens to contact current candidates, as well as President Obama. Their responses will be posted online.