Republicans Introduce Bill That Could Ban P*rn In The US: ‘Obscenity Isn’t Protected By The 1st Amendment’

Republicans are taking aim at sex workers and explicit online content with a new bill that could redefine what counts as “obscene” and make transmitting it a federal crime.

via: Pink News

Introduced on Thursday (8 May), the Senate bill brought by Utah Republican Mike Lee alongside Illinois Rep. Mary Miller, aims to instil a blanket ban on porn in the country.

If passed, the law would redefine the term “obscenity” within the 1934 Communications Act to mean “prurient interested in nudity, sex, or excretion”, “depicts, describes, or represents actual or stimulated sexual acts with the objective intent to arouse, titillate, or gratify the sexual desires of a person,” and “taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

The law also aims to change an “intent” clause in the Act, meaning that sharing “obscene” content, whether malicious or not, would hold penalties.

Lee, 53, said following the introduction of the bill that he believes “hazy and unenforceable legal definitions” have allowed what he describes as “extreme pornography” to proliferate and “reach countless children.

“Our bill updates the legal definition of obscenity for the internet age so this content can be taken down and its peddlers prosecuted,” he said.

Lee has attempted to pass similar bans on pornographic and explicit content in the past, trying first in 2022 and against in 2024 – failing both times.

However, analysts and sex workers have warned that the bill still has a chance of pulling through, with 404 Media author Sam Cole arguing that the US has entered an “even more hostile political climate” when it comes to “sexual expression, free speech, and porn.”

Project 2025 – a guiding roadmap created by conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation, which outlines Donald Trump’s first 180 days in office, plans as part of its roadmap to completely ban pornography.

The proposed bill and growing rhetoric have prompted immense concern from adult content creators and sex workers. Alana Evans, adult content creator and president of the Adult Performance Artists Guild (APAG) workers’ union, criticised the proposed law as “a real problem” and warned fellow adult performers: “They are coming for us right now.”

Others have warned that the proposed law’s definition is incredibly vague and could result in bans on anything from erotic literature to pole dancing to lingerie modelling.

It could affect thousands of “softcore” adult content creators on sites such as OnlyFans, several of whom are LGBTQ+, who rely on adult content to make a living.

Meanwhile, popular adult site PornHub is currently inaccessible for millions of Americans in a number of states after the introduction of laws which strengthen age verification requirements.

Meanwhile, popular adult site PornHub is currently inaccessible for millions of Americans in a number of states after the introduction of laws which strengthen age verification requirements.