Steph Quinn
| Missouri Independent
A bill requiring pornography websites to conduct age checks before granting access is headed to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Commercial websites and platforms must already verify that users are at least 18 if more than a third of their content is sexually explicit as part of a rule enforced by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway since December.
The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Sherri Gallick of Belton, would codify that rule in state law, requiring websites to use third-party age verification providers.
“One of the things that was really compelling to me is that a lot of people growing up in today’s age look at a phone or they look at a computer, and they think that is reality,” Gallick told The Independent. “It’s very demeaning to women and to children.”
Sites that don’t comply would be subject to civil penalties, including fines up to $10,000 per day in violation of the law and an additional $250,000 if at least one minor accessed sexually explicit content. Sites could be charged $10,000 per violation of a provision prohibiting age verification providers from retaining users’ identifiable information.
The House passed the bill 112-25 Wednesday, May 13, with 20 Democrats and 5 Republicans in opposition and 11 Democrats voting “present.” The Senate passed the bill 32-0 on Tuesday, May 12, sending it back to the House for approval of a minor amendment.
The bill got initial House approval last year but was dropped from the calendar before getting a formal vote due to a challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court to a similar Texas law.
“The fear was, ‘Okay, what if they don’t uphold that? Then we would have to make some changes,’” Gallick said.
The court sided with Texas in July 2025, ruling that the state’s requirement that users prove their age by showing government-issued identification did not violate adults’ right to access constitutionally-protected content.
During House debate in March, Democratic lawmakers questioned the potential effectiveness of the bill and raised the possibility of unintended consequences.
Democratic state Rep. Eric Woods of Kansas City said young people are likely to find ways around age verification requirements.
“Kids are smart,” Woods said. “There are VPNs. There are browser settings that allow you to skirt around some of this stuff.”
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, argued that age verification requirements could lead more prominent porn websites to block access in Missouri, driving traffic to less scrupulous sites with fewer content safeguards.
“The websites that are less inclined to follow the rules also tend to be the types of websites that are filled with child sexual assault material, that include nonconsensual sex acts,” Aune said.
The porn industry’s largest website, Pornhub, blocked access in Missouri after Hanaway announced her office’s rule, issuing a statement calling the new rule ineffective and raising data privacy concerns.
Gallick said that while she realizes some young people will still access sexually explicit material, putting age verification requirements in state law is an important step to protect children. She said pornography can be used by bad actors to “groom” children to engage in sexual activity.
“When there’s a leak in your house you turn the water off,” Gallick said. “When there’s pests that come into your house, an exterminator comes in and cuts off the source. This is the source. Children do not need to view pornography.”
This story was first published at missouriindependent.com.
