Pornography Becomes Presidential Campaign Issue

On the heels of former Senator Rick Santorum publicly pledging to “vigorously enforce the nation’s adult obscenity laws,” and with last year’s Congressional bipartisan support to do the same, former Gov. Mitt Romney is being asked to outline his plan to enforce federal laws.

Thirteen national leaders from the War on Illegal Pornography Coalition sent a letter to Romney on Tuesday seeking a meeting to discuss his position on enforcement of federal laws prohibiting distribution of obscene adult pornography.

Patrick Trueman, president of Morality In Media and spokesman for the group, said that 42 U.S. Senators and 75 members of the U. S. House last year signed letters to U. S. Attorney General Holder urging him to “vigorously enforce federal obscenity laws” noting that, “illegal adult obscenity contributes to violence against women, addiction, harm to children, and sex trafficking.”

“This is not a partisan issue,” Trueman said. “Signing the letters to Attorney General Holder were many conservatives and liberals, including Senators, Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Orin Hatch (R-UT).

Romney previously indicated in a statement that he supports “strict enforcement of our nation’s obscenity laws.”

“Our group believes a meeting with Gov. Romney is wise at this point in the campaign to nail down this commitment,” Trueman said. “Both former Senator Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have explicitly promised to vigorously enforce the nation’s adult obscenity laws and to appoint an attorney general who will do so.”

The letter to Romney notes that, “The U.S. Department of Justice has stopped all enforcement of obscenity laws at a time when our nation is suffering an untreated pandemic of harm from pornography.”

Trueman noted that current federal laws prohibit distribution of obscene (hardcore) pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, in hotels/motels, in retail shops, by mail and by common carrier.