Donald Trump Promises to Ban Porn If Elected President

The anti-porn group Enough Is Enough released a press statement Monday announcing that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has pledged to effectively ban porn if he is elected president. Enough Is Enough bills itself as an organization working to make the internet safer for children, which apparently means ridding the internet of any and all "obscene pornography."

Trump signed a pledge distributed to all presidential candidates by Enough Is Enough called "The Children's Internet Safety Presidential Pledge," which frames porn as something inherently tied to the exploitation and endangerment of children. The pledge itself makes it sound as though all porn (not just child pornography) is dangerous to the well-being of children.

In the "recitals" listed before the pledge itself, Enough Is Enough says "obscene pornography and child pornography" are not protected under the First Amendment. Enough Is Enough equates child pornography and all pornography again in the following paragraph, saying, "There are existing laws in place to criminalize the online sexual predation and sex trafficking of children, as well as obscene pornography and child pornography."

There are of course federal laws in place that seek to prevent and punish the sexual exploitation of children, but the language of the pledge suggests that all "obscene porn" (a term Enough Is Enough does not explicitly define) should receive the same legal treatment as child pornography.

In the press release, Enough Is Enough claims Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign declined to sign the pledge but that Clinton's campaign supports the goals of the pledge.