Rep. Wortz Cosponors Bill Outlawing Internet Pornography in Michigan
“This is, in a sense, legalized prostitution.”
Michigan State House—Rep. Jen Wortz (R-Quincy) cosponsored a bill that would outlaw online pornography in Michigan and require internet providers to filter out websites with obscene content.
The bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Josh Shriver (R-Oxford), introduced the Anticorruption of Public Morals Act on September 11, 2025, along with Wortz and four other representatives: Joseph Pavlov (R-Smiths Creek), Matthew Maddock (R-Milford), James DeSana (R-Carleton), and Joseph Fox (R-Caledonia).
In an interview with the Hillsdalian, Wortz explained the bill’s purpose.
“It stops allowing for the dissemination of pornographic content across the internet,” Wortz said. “It would hold internet providers responsible for preventing it from being disseminated into Michigan.”
She also discussed why she supports the bill.
“[Pornography] is readily available, and we have seen the toxicity of it in our society. So, why are we allowing it? It’s just pure evil. There’s nothing good that comes from it,” Wortz said.
HB 4938 prohibits any “commercial entity, public institution, private actor, or internet platform” from distributing pornography or making it available.
Violation of the law would be a felony offense “punishable by imprisonment for not more than 20 years or a fine of not more than $100,000, or both.”
Fines and prison sentences would escalate as the amount of pornography increases. Internet service providers that knowingly allow access to websites with pornographic content would face civil fines up to “$500,000 for each violation.
The bill contains a detailed description of the types of content that would constitute “pornographic material.” It also specifies that the content would be illegal to distribute or host on websites, whether it is “real, animated, digitally generated, written, or auditory.”
Wortz also said that the House and Senate are considering legislation to require age verification before accessing pornographic content. But she said it is important to begin the discussion about outlawing internet pornography.
“Any why not? Is trafficking legal? Is prostitution legal? Is videoing someone and sharing them doing inappropriate things legal?”, Wortz asked. “Yet, we have an industry that profiteers off of all of those things.”
“This is, in a sense, legalized prostitution,” she continued. “And you look at the amount of drug use that goes on or trafficking that’s involved to make this work, not to mention child pornography.”
While Wortz supports the bill’s primary aim—outlawing online pornography—she said it needs some work so that it does not have unintended consequences.
“It needs some tweaks,” Wortz said. “One of the pieces of feedback I’ve gotten is that it mentions VPNs [Virtual Private Networks].”
VPNs encrypt a user’s internet activity, making his or her location and searches untraceable.
The bill describes VPNs as one of the “circumvention tools” that the state should “actively monitor and block,” and it prohibits the “promotion or sale of circumvention tools to access prohibited material.”
Tens of millions of Americans use VPNs, and many companies now require them for their employees.
Wortz said she wants to ensure the legislation does not unintentionally prohibit legitimate uses of VPNs.
The bill was sent to the House Judiciary Committee, but Wortz said she does not know if it will receive a hearing.
“I’m hopeful we’ll get a committee hearing. It needs some amendments. If it doesn’t get a committee hearing, maybe it will next term,” Wortz said. “But at least we’ll start having conversations and asking that question, ‘What good comes from it?’”
In May, a Republican state representative and a Democratic state senator introduced a bipartisan bill requiring “device-based” age verification, which the porn industry apparently prefers to “site-level” age verification, according to AVN.
Rep. Brad Paquette (R-Niles) introduced HB 4429 and Democratic state Sen. John Cherry (D-Flint) introduced SB 284.
“This legislation will make significant strides to protect children online as both sides of the aisle recognize the urgent priority. ... We are drawing from successful approaches used across the country,” Parquette said.
Twenty-five states have passed age verification laws for pornography, and, in many cases, porn websites have stopped operating in these states.
Wortz said she would likely vote yes on this law as a first step in fighting against pornography.
“The age verification bill is coming,” she said. That probably has a better chance of making it through.”
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Thank you, Rep. Jennifer Wortz!
It is hard to stand and fight these moral issues and you are doing it with grace and strength, may God bless your efforts!