Kiev, October 2, 2023
Photo: wng.org
The legalization of the pornography industry is completely unacceptable, says the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations.
The Council issued a statement on Friday in response to bill No. 9623, which calls for the legalization of porn.
Council members include the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the schismatics, the Uniates, various Protestant groups, Jews, Muslims, and more, though the Council’s report does not indicate who exactly contributed to the new statement.
The organization wrote in its appeal to the Chairman and the leaders of Parliamentary factions:
It is especially shameful when the initiators of the bill justify their initiative by the desire to allow women to legally sell their bodies allegedly to gather funds in support of the Ukrainian army. Profiteering in the war and the willingness to perceive women as a commodity testifies to the moral baseness of the authors of this bill, who are ready to lobby for harmful unhealthy initiatives and drag women into the sex industry for the sake of super profits from this immoral business.
The bill threatens to turn Ukraine into a moral cesspool, the Council states:
This bill should be withdrawn from consideration or rejected, since it significantly harms the morality and health of Ukrainian society by legalizing the import and production of pornographic materials in Ukraine. Moreover, this initiative carries the risk of turning Ukraine into a cesspool where the state encourages the development of the porn industry and the sexual exploitation of women.
Pornographic products are also highly addictive and lead to “unhealthy, misogynistic, violent, and coercive behavior in sexual relationships” and the early and negative sexualization children. They objectify and exploit women and “may prompt an increase in violence against women,” the Council warns.
Furthermore, the legalization of pornography could lead to the increased production of illegal materials, including child pornography. Thus, the Council concludes: “Bill No. 9623 should be rejected, given the huge threat to public health, morality, dignity of Ukrainian women and men, which this destructive initiative carries.”
According to an August report from opendatabot.ua, 1,943 criminal cases under articles on pornography were opened in Ukraine in just the first seven months of the year, 1,244 of which were for child pornography. This is a significant jump from 2022, when 1,880 cases were opened throughout the entire year.
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