--- description: Florida legislators declared pornography a public health risk the same day that they declined to hold hearings on a gun violence measure title: Florida House Declares Pornography a Public Health Risk image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Florida](/tag/florida/) ## Florida Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Florida's House of Representatives Just Declared Pornography a Health Risk by [Eli Meixler](/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 21, 2018 6:50 AM CUT by [Eli Meixler](/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 21, 2018 6:50 AM CUT Florida’s House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday declaring pornography a public health risk. The resolution called for education, research, and policy changes to protect Florida citizens — especially teenagers — from pornography, [according](https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2018-02-20/florida-house-declares-pornography-as-a-health-risk "undefined") to the Associated Press. The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Ross Spano, said that research has “found a correlation between pornography use and mental and physical illnesses, difficulty forming and maintaining intimate relationships, unhealthy brain development and cognitive function, and deviant, problematic or dangerous sexual behavior,” [at a hearing last month](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-florida-porn-health-risk-20180118-story.html "undefined") before the House’s Health & Human Services Committee. The vote followed an earlier session in which Florida legislators [declined to hold hearings](http://time.com/5167687/florida-shooting-lawmakers-assault-weapon-ban/ "undefined") on a bill banning high-capacity magazines and assault rifles such as the one used last week by suspected gunman Nikolas Cruz to [kill 17 students](http://time.com/5160564/florida-high-school-shooting-victims-name/ "undefined") and teachers at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat, questioned why the House chose not to prioritize the [measure tackling gun violence.](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/gun-control-florida-shooting.html "undefined") “Has anyone ever been killed as a result of the health implications of pornography?” he asked Spano, according to the New York _Times_. “He was saying porn as a health risk was more important to address here in the Florida Legislature than the epidemic of gun violence,” Smith [told](https://twitter.com/CarlosGSmith/status/966041204382228480 "undefined") the AP. “I’m not aware there’s a base of voters who are losing sleep every night over the epidemic of pornography as a public health crisis.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5167792/florida-house-pornography-health-risk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5167792/florida-house-pornography-health-risk/"},"headline":"Florida's House of Representatives Just Declared Pornography a Health Risk","datePublished":"2018-02-21T06:50:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:22:12.428Z","description":"The chamber earlier declined to hold hearings on a gun violence bill","url":"https://time.com/5167792/florida-house-pornography-health-risk/","keywords":["Florida","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eli Meixler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eli/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/florida/","name":"Florida"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5167792/florida-house-pornography-health-risk/","name":"Florida's House of Representatives Just Declared Pornography a Health Risk"}}]}] ```