“I know it when I see it.”

That was the standard used by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in 1964 when judging what he considered obscenity. When it comes to obscenity in recent decades, pornography is typically the most common way in which a person “sees it.” Today, many pornographic websites provide explicit material without having any age verification process to guarantee minors are not exposed to the content on their websites. To combat this, 19 states have enacted age verification laws since 2023.

Texas is one of these states, and since August 2023, it has been battling through litigation with the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) over an age verification law they passed called H.B. 1181. The bill requires “a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material on an Internet website, including a social media platform, more than one-third of which is sexual material harmful to minors, shall use reasonable age verification methods [as described by Section 129B.003] to verify that an individual attempting to access the material is 18 years of age or older.”

According to the bill’s text, there are multiple acceptable forms of age verification. The bill dictates that the “commercial entity” must require individuals to provide digital identification or comply with a commercial age verification system that verifies age using “government-issued identification” or “a commercially reasonable method that relies on public or private transactional data to verify the age of an individual.”

The case Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton reached the Supreme Court on January 15, 2025, with the decision expected to be released in the summer.

However, the fight for age verification has now extended beyond individual states and into the halls of Congress. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) recently reintroduced a bill called The SCREEN Act, designed to protect children from exposure to pornography by requiring age verification by federal law.

Miller joined “Washington Watch” with guest host Jody Hice on Wednesday to discuss the proposed legislation. Miller told Hice, “I’m the mom of seven, and big news, going to be the grandma of 22, but I understand what parents are up against now that the cell phone is in practically everybody’s hands, and blockers and filters are not working. (So) this bill is going to require the porn websites to use age verification.”

Hice inquired how these websites could guarantee that children do not lie about their age. He asked, “When there’s age verification, what does that look like?”

Miller told Hice there are multiple effective methods that could be used, but one form she highlighted would not “violate people’s privacy.” She explained, “They’ve actually come out with technology where the screen would show a hand, and you have to put your hand up and do different movements, and that technology can identify the age of the child.”

Hice also wanted to know how these laws would be enforced and the potential consequences for websites that do allow minors to access their content. He asked, “What would happen if it is determined that a child is underage? By law, what would be required of these websites?”

Miller simply explained, “They’ll be liable for exposing children to indecent materials.” She stressed the importance of this law by saying, “[T]he government should have a compelling interest in protecting its citizens, but especially the most vulnerable, which would be our children.” She described pornography as “going lower into the gutter,” adding, “It’s very degrading, and it’s become violent and just very gross. ... It has a life-altering impact on the children. It interferes with normal sexual development. It causes depression, addiction, risky sexual behavior, and lifelong problems for the child.”

Miller pointed to the fact that the average age of exposure to pornography in the United States is now eight years old, and that 80% of children and teens in the U.S. between the ages of 12 and 17 have been exposed to pornography.

As to the amount of support that the bill currently has in Congress, Miller was frank. “I think not enough support,” she lamented. “We’re going to have to work on it because people are worried about privacy things, so they need to be informed about how we’re going to identify that the child is under 18.”

 “We have to protect our children,” Miller concluded. “This is a rot in our nation.”