Sister Kapp’s Plea to U.S.: Enforce Laws on Pornography

Ardeth G. Kapp, general president of the Church’s Young Women organization, made a strong plea for enforcement of laws against pornography in her remarks before the United States Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography January 22 in New York City.

She represented the Church and its hundreds of thousands of young women in her comments to the commission.

Sister Kapp spoke of pornography as an “enemy” invading the country and called on the government to act against it. “This commission has an opportunity to help restore a climate where values can have a chance to survive and thrive,” she said.

“As a Church and as citizens of this land we ask and pray that this commission commit to three important actions:

“1. Give proper heed to the wealth of testimony and evidence before you. Present to the Attorney General and to the American public a clear finding that obscenity and indecency contribute significantly to many of the growing social ills besetting this country, including child abuse, violent sex crimes, suicide, and disruption of families through divorce and infidelity. …

“2. Recommend to the Attorney General and to the President of the United States that all federal laws relating to obscene and indecent materials be given full enforcement. …

“3. Recommend that the Congress of the United States and state legislatures fashion new legislation, where needed, to meet the challenges of advancing technology that has stepped beyond the reach of existing obscenity laws.”

In connection with the latter recommendation, she referred to “television transmission by cable and satellite, use of telephone lines and equipment, … and use of computer correspondence where the content is obscene or indecent.”

“While pornography is a moral issue, it is also an issue of survival—survival for the individual, the family, and the nation,” she said. “Fortunately we have protective laws in place which for the most part could, if enforced, keep the enemy of obscenity from our doors. But a law unenforced is as ineffective as a weapon never fired. Why do we not enforce the laws and protect our citizens?”

Sister Kapp said studies show a high correlation between use of pornographic materials and the incidence of child abuse, rape, incest, and other sexual violence in society. She cited the findings of a professional psychotherapist and data gathered from law enforcement agencies by Citizens for Decency through Law, Inc., as evidence of this correlation.

She spoke of concerns in three areas in connection with pornography. First is pornography’s conditioning effect. Individuals who use it regularly become addicted and their involvement escalates. They also become desensitized to its effects on them and develop an increasing tendency and desire to act out what it depicts.

Second is its permanent effect. “Everything we see or hear has an effect on us for good or ill,” she said. “There is no neutral state.”

Third is the role of elected officials. It is their responsibility, she said, to see that protective legislation against pornography exists and is vigorously enforced.

She noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled obscenity is not constitutionally protected and that community values can be preserved and enforced by law. But failure to enforce existing laws “leaves many falsely believing that offending material is legal.”