Thursday, April 21, 2011

Obama administration shutters anti-porn task force

by Kathleen Gilbert

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Justice Department task force initiated under the Bush administration to fight the spread of hardcore pornography has been shut down by Obama’s attorney general.

Politico reported this week that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder closed the Obscenity Prosecution Task Force, a move that has been met with criticism by conservative congressmen and other leaders.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) urged Holder in an April 4 letter, signed by 41 other senators, including 6 Democrats, to change his mind.

“We know more than ever how illegal adult obscenity contributes to violence against women, addiction, harm to children, and sex trafficking. This material harms individuals, families and communities and the problems are only getting worse,” he wrote.

The Justice Department claims that the porn issue is better handled by lower U.S. attorneys and by the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

Dr. Judith Reisman, an internationally recognized expert on the harms of pornography, said she considered the task force to have been no better than a token initiative.

“While perfunctory, smoke screen pretenses were made under Bush now the cards are on the table,” said Reisman in an email to LifeSiteNews.com, adding that “even under [Reagan] we were spiked, not by him of course, but by those under him.”

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