Protecting Kids From Online Pornography: Why the SCREEN Act Matters

For today’s parents, protecting children from pornography no longer means simply keeping explicit magazines or movies out of the house. A smartphone can give a child access to sexually explicit content in seconds — often before a parent even realizes there is a problem.

Research cited by a coalition of family and policy organizations, including Family Policy Alliance, shows just how widespread that exposure has become: 54% of children age 13 and younger and 80% of teenagers ages 12 to 17 have been exposed to sexually explicit content. The average age of first exposure is now just 12.

That is one reason Family Policy Alliance is supporting the Shielding Children’s Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net (SCREEN) Act, federal legislation designed to keep minors from accessing commercial pornography websites.

What Would the SCREEN Act Do?

The SCREEN Act would require commercial pornography websites to verify that users are adults before allowing them to access sexually explicit material.

Importantly, the legislation does not prescribe a single method of age verification. Websites could use third-party verification services or develop their own systems that meet the law’s requirements. The legislation would also prohibit websites and verification providers from retaining or selling personal information collected during the verification process.

The principle is straightforward: If a business sells or distributes material that children are legally prohibited from accessing, the burden should not fall entirely on parents to keep children out.

That approach is already taking hold across the country. Twenty-seven states have enacted age-verification laws for pornography websites, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ age-verification law in 2025.

These efforts are part of the larger work Family Policy Alliance is doing through our Let Parents Parent campaign to protect children and ensure parents have the tools and authority they need to raise their children.

What Happened to the SCREEN Act in the Senate?

The U.S. House passed substantially similar protections in June. In the Senate, the SCREEN Act came before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on Aug. 5.

The bill received majority support, 15–13, but it did not advance because the committee did not have the required number of members physically present. Four senators who supported the bill voted by proxy, and Senate committee rules do not allow proxy votes to count toward the quorum required to report a bill. As a result, the SCREEN Act will need another vote.

Family Policy Alliance joined other national organizations ahead of that vote in urging senators to support the legislation.

The Aug. 5 vote also drew national attention. The Daily Wire reported on the committee fight and Family Policy Alliance’s involvement, including the broader debate over whether age verification appropriately protects children while addressing privacy and free-speech concerns.

Giving Parents More Help Protecting Their Children

Parents have always been responsible for guiding what their children see and experience. But the internet has dramatically changed the scale of that job.

Pornography websites can reach children privately, instantly and on devices they carry everywhere. Age-verification laws create another layer of protection rather than expecting every family to fight that access alone.

That is why Family Policy Alliance and our network of state Family Policy Councils have worked to advance protections for children at the state level — and why the debate over the SCREEN Act matters nationally.

Parents should have the primary role in raising and protecting their children. Government and businesses should not make that job harder.

What Is Chemical Abortion, and What Are the Risks?

If you still picture abortion primarily as a procedure performed inside a clinic, the landscape has changed.

Chemical abortion typically involves two drugs: mifepristone, which blocks the hormone progesterone that sustains a pregnancy, followed by misoprostol, which induces contractions. Hamrick says this method is now used in the majority of abortions nationwide and is increasingly distributed by mail.

That shift raises questions about women’s health and safety. Hamrick points to medical information that may not be confirmed when abortion pills are shipped, including how far along a pregnancy is, whether it is ectopic or whether a woman has Rh-negative blood. She explains why those factors can matter before the drugs are taken.

Family Policy Alliance has previously reported on research examining complications associated with the abortion pill and efforts to restore federal safeguards around its use.

Is Mifepristone Entering Our Water Supply?

The questions don’t end with the woman taking the pills.

Hamrick explains that biological material from procedures performed in medical settings is handled as medical waste. With chemical abortions performed at home, that material can instead be flushed into the wastewater system.

Students for Life recently tested water samples in three major U.S. cities and detected the presence of mifepristone. Now the organization is calling on the EPA to conduct nationwide testing to determine whether the abortion drug is entering America’s water supply and at what levels.

Students for Life has published its environmental water study detailing the testing and findings.

Mifepristone blocks progesterone, a hormone important to pregnancy. Hamrick asks whether environmental exposure to a progesterone blocker could play any role in the fertility problems facing American couples and believes the possibility warrants further study. With an estimated one in six couples experiencing infertility, she is calling on the EPA to investigate.

You don’t have to agree on abortion policy to want to know what’s in the water your family drinks.

Abortion Pills by Mail Raise Questions About Coercion and Consent

There is another consequence of moving abortion from the clinic to the mailbox: Who is actually obtaining the pills?

Hamrick discusses efforts in Louisiana following a case in which a woman’s husband allegedly obtained abortion pills and gave them to her without her knowledge. She argues that when abortion pills can be ordered and shipped through the mail, safeguards need to account for the possibility that the person ordering them isn’t the woman who will ultimately take them.

Hamrick also describes abortion pills being mailed across state lines, including into states that have enacted protections for unborn children. That means the post-Roe fight isn’t simply about what your state’s law says. Abortion by mail can create challenges to enforcing those protections.

What Can You Do After Roe?

Hamrick isn’t simply raising questions. She and Students for Life are asking government leaders to act. They want the EPA to test for mifepristone in America’s water supply, and Hamrick is calling for stronger federal enforcement of existing restrictions involving abortion drugs sent through the mail.

She also encourages pro-life Americans to participate in the conversation themselves. You don’t have to be a policy expert or content creator, she says. Sharing information, supporting pregnancy care organizations and speaking up for mothers and their unborn children are all ways to get involved.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade didn’t end America’s abortion debate. Chemical abortion and abortion pills by mail are changing where and how those battles are being fought.

Through Family Policy Alliance’s After Roe campaign, we’re working to protect the unborn, support mothers in crisis and advance policies that cherish human life.

To learn more about Kristi Hamrick’s work, visit Students for Life of America or Students for Life Action.

Subscribe to The Family Policy Alliance Report on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or iHeart to catch every episode.

The Women's Privacy Act: A Decade in the Making

One of the session's most closely watched wins was the Kansas Women's Privacy Act, which restricts restrooms and other government facilities based on biological sex. Kansas Family Voice had pushed similar legislation for ten years before this session finally moved it into law.

Jones says the bill wasn't drafted in a vacuum. Lawmakers had spent years hearing directly from Kansas families — including accounts of young girls sharing school restrooms and locker rooms with biological males, sometimes starting in early elementary school. Those stories, Jones says, are what finally pushed a supermajority of the legislature to override the governor's veto and get the bill signed into law by the end of February.

The law is currently in effect and has not been blocked by the courts.

Holding Abortion Providers Accountable for Informed Consent

Kansas also strengthened its informed consent law for abortion providers this session. Under the update, women now have a clear legal pathway to hold providers accountable if they aren't given required information before an abortion — closing a gap left after a state court blocked the law from being enforced directly against providers.

Jones points to testimony from Kansas women — some in their fifties and sixties — who have spoken in court about abortions they had years before the informed consent law existed, and how more information and time might have changed their decision. The update also builds on the state's existing 24-hour waiting period and its earlier law against abortion coercion.

Alongside the informed consent update, lawmakers passed the CARES Act, protecting pregnancy resource centers from government discrimination, and new penalties for disrupting church services.

Why "Just Parent Your Kids" Isn't Enough

Not every fight ended in a win. The App Store Accountability Act — legislation aimed at giving parents more control over what their kids can access online — passed the Kansas Senate with bipartisan support but stalled in the House after opposition from major technology companies.

Jones pushes back on the idea that the issue can be solved by parents alone. Families, she argues, are up against a trillion-dollar technology industry with far more resources and reach than any individual parent. She points to a related law out of Texas, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, as a sign the legal path forward is open — and says Kansas Family Voice plans to bring the bill back next session.

For more on why this legislation matters, read more from Melissa McKay, a senior fellow with Family Policy Alliance and author of the App Store Accountability Act, or watch her full podcast episode on the App Store Accountability Act.

A Supreme Court Win for Girls' Sports

The conversation closes on a major national win: a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding state laws that keep girls' sports competitions limited to biological females. Jones helped lead an amicus brief in the case, ultimately signed by 38 state-based Family Policy Councils (FPCs) and more than 200 female legislators from across the country.

Jones says the brief drew heavily on firsthand stories from female legislators and athletes — including accounts of Kansas girls who felt they couldn't speak up about competing against male athletes for fear of losing their scholarships. She sees the ruling as a turning point that reaches beyond athletics, into broader questions of privacy, dignity, and free speech for women.

Why This Matters Beyond Kansas

Nine veto overrides make for a striking headline. But as Jones tells it, the real story is in what drove each vote — the families, students, and legislators who pushed these issues forward, often for years, before they became law.

Kansas Family Voice is one of dozens of Family Policy Alliance's state-level FPCs working on similar issues across the country. As Jones and Youngson discuss, state legislatures are often where these battles are decided first — long before they reach a courtroom or make national news.

If you'd like to get involved where you live, you can find the FPC in your state.

Watch the full conversation to hear Brittany Jones's complete account of Kansas's legislative session, and what she says is coming next before the next election.

Related Reading

• Last Year's Conversation with Brittany Jones — Before She Took the Helm of Kansas Family Voice
• Kansas GOP Primary & the Fight for Governor: A Conversation with Brittany Jones
• App Store Accountability Puts Burden of Responsibility Back Where It Belongs — on Tech Companies — Melissa McKay
• Podcast: The App Store Accountability Act, with Melissa McKay
• Learn more: Kansas Family Voice

Joining a Fight That Reached the Supreme Court

Buried in South Dakota's constitution was a provision that limited educational freedom for generations. Woods shares how collaboration across the Family Policy Council network helped pave the way for landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions that opened new opportunities for school choice, one of the fundamental issues at the heart of Family Policy Alliance's Let Parents Parent campaign.

A Tipping Point for Save Girls' Sports

South Dakota's Save Girls' Sports bill died in committee its first year — by a single vote. Woods reflects on how this early setback helped draw national attention to the issue and why he believes those efforts contributed to momentum that spread far beyond his state's borders.

Help Not Harm: Passed Isn't the Same as Won

South Dakota was the first state in the nation to enact Help Not Harm protections for minors, but Woods explains why passing legislation is only the beginning. Protecting children requires continued education, cultural engagement and a commitment to defending the policies that safeguard vulnerable kids and support families.

Looking Ahead

Throughout the conversation, Woods returns to a central theme: lasting change doesn't happen because of one election or one legislative session. It happens when people are willing to faithfully invest in their communities over time.

He also discusses why Christians have an important role to play in the public square and looks ahead to emerging challenges involving artificial intelligence, free speech and religious liberty.

Learn More

While this conversation highlights the work happening in South Dakota, its lessons extend far beyond one state. To learn more about the work of South Dakota Family Voice, visit their website.

Watch the full conversation to hear how each of these stories played out.