SUPPORT HB 1646: Combatting sexually abusive materials of children

Summary

House Bill 1646 gives the Attorney General the ability to impose civil penalties of $1 million on large corporations which knowingly make available sexually abusive materials of children. To be subject to this penalty a corporation must have a stock market capitalization of at least $100 billion. The legislation clarifies that if multiple corporations are involved in making available the abusive content in a single instance, each may be subject to the fine. The bill also establishes the child sexually abusive material facilitation prevention fund. Money collected from the penalties will be deposited in this fund to assist in the investigation of corporations which have potentially made available sexually abusive content of children. 

Analysis

We live in an age where pornography is more accessible than ever, with countless porn websites and mainstream social media platforms containing porn spread across the internet. This new age of pornography has brought with it a multitude of consequences, one of the most depraved being the spread of child sexual abuse materials. In 2014, the number of reports of child sexual abuse imagery surpassed one million for the first time, but by 2018 the number of reports had risen all the way to 18 million, representing 45 million images and videos of child porn. This number has likely skyrocketed all the more since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the content that gets reported is sure to be far less than the true total.

Major social media corporations have been less than willing to truly confront child pornography on their sites. And even if they were, this would do nothing to solve the problem posed by the major porn sites, easily accessible on any device, being rife with child porn even if it is technically against their policies. Furthermore, countless sites on the dark web specifically promote, share, and encourage the production of child sexual abuse content. Indiana must not ignore this issue any longer as do so many companies and people in power. HB 1646 is critical to get justice for victims of online child abuse who reside in Indiana by directly targeting and penalizing the companies and websites that make this terrible crime possible.

Conclusion

Online child sexual abuse goes after the most vulnerable in our society to form an evil industry worth billions of dollars. Facilitating this crime needs to be treated severely by the law, and that is just what HB 1646 would do. Large social media giants have failed to keep deviancy off of their platforms. Porn websites, on and off the dark web, gladly allow or even promote child porn as they are devoid of all values and just want more traffic to their sites. Children in Indiana must be kept safe from online sexual abuse and those who are victims at the very least deserve the people responsible for their abuse to be held accountable. Indiana must take a stand to protect the innocence of children and fight back against the ever-increasing tide of sexual perversion haunting the internet.

IFI supports HB 1646.

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SB 350: Protecting religious liberty in counseling

Summary

Senate Bill 350 prevents political subdivisions in Indiana from regulating various types of counseling services, leaving this responsibility to the state government. Political subdivisions include the governments of cities, towns, counties, and any other local government entities. The legislation applies to services that perform marriage and family therapy, social work, mental health counseling, and addiction counseling. Both licensed and unlicensed practices are shielded under this bill from regulation by political subdivisions.

Analysis

It is vital that Indiana protects the rights of counseling services to operate as they wish and the ability of Hoosiers to access them. In 2022, the city of West Lafayette attempted to infringe on religious liberty by banning unlicensed individuals from providing children with counseling on sexuality from a Christian perspective. This would have made the services offered by many churches illegal, as they often work with counselors who qualify under the tenants of their faith, not under the rules of state or medical licensing boards. Furthermore, many activists wanted the West Lafayette ban to go even further and ban counseling on sexuality from licensed providers as well. West Lafayette reversed this unconstitutional mandate when met with immediate pushback, but state law must ensure that another situation like this does not arise.

There are certainly many activists pushing for their local governments to enact similar bans to the one attempted by West Lafayette. To them, receiving counseling from a biblical perspective for someone who experiences same sex attraction or confusion over their gender identity equates to “conversion therapy” and must be banned. The left particularly wants to prohibit parents from accessing counseling on these topics for their children. It is children who often experience these identity questions most intensely as they grow. This makes them prime targets for the left who want to stave off any notion in a child’s mind that they should adhere to the religious principles with which their parents raised them.

Conclusion

According to the worldview of the left, the Christian principles which millions adhere to daily and teach to their children are nothing more than “pseudoscience” that must be banned. If liberal activists get their way, parents seeking help for their children or children who themselves seek advice on how to best live according to their religious principles in the difficult areas of sexuality and gender would be told no by the government. They would be told that for a child to go to a pastor or religious counselor for help in these matters is illegal. Instead, the left encourages minors to act in accordance with any sexual impulse they may feel and considers this to be the new norm. Indiana must not allow this dangerous reversal of the truth. No church or faith-based organization providing counseling should be threatened or shut down by their government.

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OPPOSE HB 1568: Allowing over-the-counter access to contraceptives

Summary

HB 1568 would allow for pharmacists to prescribe and dispense contraceptives over-the-counter. This would allow patients to receive contraceptives on demand without a prescription from their doctor. This includes both hormonal contraceptive patches and oral hormonal contraceptives which are self-administered. The bill’s definition of contraceptives relies upon the FDA’s standards. Any pharmacist can be approved to prescribe contraceptives under this legislation as long as they complete a training program designed by the Indiana Board of Pharmacy. Pharmacists are also barred from requiring patients to schedule an appointment with them to obtain the contraceptives. 

Analysis

The decision to take hormonal contraceptives is much too serious to allow such medications to be prescribed over-the-counter by pharmacists. Women need to consult with their personal doctors on this matter, having the opportunity to be fully informed by someone who has a relationship with them. Doctors know the health history of their patients and the details of birth control, including its risks, making them a necessary party in this decision. Hormonal birth control is known to potentially cause several harmful side effects, such as increased risk of blood clots, heart attack, and stroke. It can also lead to elevated risk of breast cancer, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, and ovarian cancer. It is vital that women have the approval of their doctors on this matter, to make sure that taking hormonal contraceptives is safe for them.

Furthermore, allowing contraceptives to be dispensed over-the-counter makes it much more likely that drugs which actually cause abortions will be more easily accessible to the public. In the past, the FDA has classified some abortion-inducing drugs as merely contraceptives, claiming they simply prevent pregnancy when evidence shows that they can also end a human life after it has begun. In the aftermath of Roe v. Wade’s overruling, abortion activists are increasingly looking to pharmacies and supposed methods of easier contraception access to make abortifacients more accessible, including in states with pro-life laws like Indiana. 

Conclusion

Our state must not allow hormonal contraceptives to be treated like any simple over-the-counter medication, as this leaves the door open to a myriad of health risks for women and a decrease in overall standards which may allow abortion-inducing drugs to become more available. The doctor-patient relationship through which contraception has always been made available in Indiana is a vital bulwark against the increasing amount of abortion-inducing drugs sold on dark corners of the internet and in states will policies favoring abortion. As shown by the pro-life legislation passed by the Indiana General Assembly in 2022, we are a pro-life state. We must not allow the progress that has been made for the unborn to be rolled back by clever tricks of the pro-abortion movement, but must continue to fight for the right of every unborn child to be protected in the womb.

IFI opposes HB 1568.

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