Legislative Session Week in Review: March 25-29
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March 27, 2024
Today, we commemorate Holy Thursday, the eve of Christ’s passion and death.
We reflect on how Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, leaving for us his body, blood, soul and divinity in the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
“The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be in the memorial of His sacrifice. Jesus includes the Apostles in His own offering and bids them perpetuate it” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 611).
We give thanks for his Real Presence and for the ability to participate in Christ’s passion each time we attend holy Mass.
See more details on this week's highlights below!
Mar 26
The internet world has created many issues that many never imagined possible. One such issue is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create sexually explicit images, even of minors. This type of horrific content is created to depict actual people in many cases, including children.
All sexually explicit content violates the dignity of the human person. Creating sexually explicit content that is edited to depict a real person remains a violation of their dignity. Computer-generated images will live on the internet forever and may cause irreparable harm to a child for their entire life.
S. 995, referred to as MPIC, was amended and passed by the Senate and will now move to the House. It would provide penalties for those who create obscene or sexual images of identifiable children using AI. The Catholic Conference thanks Sen. Brad Hutto for his leadership on this issue and urges the House to pass this legislation quickly.
Similar bills, H. 4972 (obscene visual representations of child sexual abuse) and H. 4973 (sexual exploitation of a minor, morphed images of children), were scheduled to be heard in a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. This legislation would address the dangers of AI-generated child pornography. It would establish criminal penalties for creating content that depicts sexually explicit images of “recognizable” minors. Time did not permit discussion of the bill, and the Catholic Conference looks forward to the subcommittee making time for this legislation in the future.
Additional bills introduced on this topic include S. 996 (AI Child Abuse), and H. 4948 (sexual exploitation of minors, morphed child pornography).
The South Carolina Catholic Conference thanks Rep. Raye Felder, Rep. Brandon Guffey and Sen. Hutto for introducing legislation to combat the dangers of computer-generated child pornography.