Church Honored for Helping in Passage of Anti-Porn Law

The Church has been honored for its part in supporting passage of a new California law prohibiting possession of child pornography. The law went into effect 1 January 1990, and has already been used in prosecution of child abusers.

The new law classifies all offenses after the first one as felonies. Under some conditions, the first possession can also be a felony.

At a recognition luncheon on February 26, Los Angeles County Supervisor Pete Schabarum presented to Keith J. Atkinson, the Church’s public communications director for the state of California, a scroll honoring Church members for their part in supporting the bill that was passed by the state’s legislature. Brother Atkinson accepted the scroll on behalf of Elder Gene R. Cook of the Seventy, President of the North America West Area.

Elder John K. Carmack of the Seventy, formerly an attorney in southern California, testified in favor of the bill at a hearing last year in Sacramento.

“Without the support of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and similar religious organizations which you helped bring together, this bill would not have passed through the legislature,” Mr. Schabarum said in making the presentation to the Church.

The Church was one of several religious or family-oriented organizations involved in supporting the bill. Federal, state, and local legal officials also helped.

Church member Tonja S. Clark helped give the bill its original impetus. It grew from a proposal she made as a member of the Los Angeles County Commission on Obscenity and Pornography. (She currently serves as vice president of the commission.) Los Angeles County’s adoption of the resolution Sister Clark had proposed put the county’s political weight behind the bill introduced in the legislature.

The new law is a breakthrough because it allows prosecution simply for possession of child pornography, without the necessity of bringing the abused child into the case.