COLUMBUS - Republican lawmakers in Ohio say a public health crisis must be declared to warn residents about the dangers of pornography.

House Resolution 180, introduced by Rep. Jena Powell, R-Arcanum in Darke County, would declare that pornography is a public health hazard "leading to a broad spectrum of individual and societal harms."

Those harms include sex trafficking, prostitution and sexual assault, according to Powell's proposal. The resolution would have no effect on how the state spends money on public health.

"This resolution is looking at raising awareness and saying enough is enough," Powell told The Enquirer.

If passed, Ohio would join a growing number of states passing legislation about the ills of pornography.

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which has drafted model legislation on declaring porn a crisis, calls porn "a social and physical toxin that destroys relationships, steals innocence, erodes compassion, breeds violence and kills love." About a dozen states have passed similar legislation.

Powell's resolution is backed by 18 fellow Republicans, including Clermont County Rep. John Becker, Colerain Township Rep. Bill Blessing, Mount Lookout Rep. Tom Brinkman, Middletown Rep. Candice Keller and West Chester Rep. George Lang. She also has support from the conservative group Citizens for Community Values.

Others say the public health crisis isn't needed.

"In the absence of any credible research attributing significant damaging effects to pornography, such proposals seem like ideological posturing on the part of conservatives," said Joseph Slade, a professor emeritus of Media Arts and Studies at Ohio University.

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Research is mixed on whether pornography leads to increased domestic violence, rape or child sexual abuse.

One 2009 article published in the scientific journal "Aggression and Violent Behavior" found most industrial nations were experiencing a significant decline in rape and sexual assault rates even as the availability of porn increased.

"Despite the rhetoric, evidence for negative effects for pornography, whether violent or non-violent has not always been consistent," according to the report.

The effects of porn could be more subtle, suggested a 1992 Ohio State University School of Law article. Aggressive flirting, conspicuous leering, remarks on a woman's appearance and unwanted requests for a date "may well be highly correlated with pornography consumption."

"Yet our system of female depiction renders them ordinary and invisible and blinds us to the large amount of daily 'low-grade' hassling that goes on," the article argues.

The Polaris Project, a national anti-human trafficking organizations, lists pornography as one form of human trafficking if a victim is forced to perform in pornographic material against his or her will.

Ohio law already bans child pornography and "revenge porn," when sexual images or content are distributed without the subject's consent.

But the ability to create and distribute porn has been protected by the First Amendment in court challenges.

"Nudity alone does not render material obscene," U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist wrote in 1974.

Powell's goal right now is to raise awareness about porn as a health crisis. In the future, Powell said she would like to tackle ways to prevent younger children from viewing pornography.

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