Rep. Daniel Donovan, Jr. (R-NY11)

Sex dolls exist and nobody is trying to ban them — but what about sex dolls portraying children?

What the bill does

The CREEPER Act would prevent the distribution or importing of such child sex dolls in the U.S. The products are primarily manufactured in Asia and feature portrayals of girls as young as age five.

The full name is the Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots (CREEPER) Act.

The bill was introduced in December 2017 by Rep. Daniel Donovan, Jr. (R-NY11). It’s labelled H.R. 4655 in the House.

What supporters say

Supporters argue the bill would prevent a new and growing problem among pedophiles.

“It’s a uniquely vile person who preys on children to fulfill horrific pedophilic urges. During my 20 years as a prosecutor, I put away animals who played out their disgusting fantasies on innocent children. What I saw and heard was enough to make anybody sick,” Donovan said in a press release.

“Now, as a legislator in Congress, I’m introducing a bill to ban the newest outlet for pedophiles: child sex dolls. They don’t belong in our communities.”

What opponents say

GovTrack Insider was unable to locate any statements of opposition to the bill from a sitting member of Congress, unsurprisingly. However, some could argue that no actual human children are directly harmed by sex dolls portraying children, however uncomfortable it may make some people feel.

One of the dolls’ primary manufacturers, Japan’s Shin Takagi, argues that the dolls help prevent pedophilia towards actual children. “We should accept that there is no way to change someone’s fetishes,” Takagi told The Atlantic. “I am helping people express their desires, legally and ethically. It’s not worth living if you have to live with repressed desire.”

Even though Takagi suggests that using the dolls would prevent people from engaging in real-life crimes involving children, the evidence may seem to suggest otherwise. After the U.K. passed a law banning the importation of such dolls, The Guardian quoted Deputy Director for Intelligence Operations at the Border Force Dan Scully as saying, “These items were going to individuals, in many cases, who were committing other offences in relation to [the] harm of children.”

Odds of passage

The bill has attracted a bipartisan mix of 12 cosponsors: nine Republicans and three Democrats.

It awaits a possible vote in the House Judiciary Committee.

This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.

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