The Rada rejected a bill to decriminalize pornography
The Verkhovna Rada did not support the initiative to change the rules regarding liability for pornography. Bill No. 12191 would have abolished criminal liability for the creation and distribution of content involving adults, but it failed to secure the necessary number of votes.
This became known from the official broadcast of the session.
207 members of parliament voted in favor of the bill, which was insufficient to pass the measure (a minimum of 226 votes is required).
The deputies were also unable to send the bill back for a second first reading, so the bill is considered rejected.
What is known about Bill No. 12191, which proposed the decriminalization of pornography
The bill was introduced by a group of lawmakers back in 2024.
The main idea was to exempt adults from criminal liability for creating and distributing intimate content between consenting adults.
The authors of the initiative noted that this was not the “legalization of pornography,” but rather “decriminalization,” so that people would not face criminal liability for possessing such content.
At the same time, criminal liability would remain for:
- non-consensual pornography (“revenge porn,” deepfakes);
- child pornography;
- distribution of content to minors;
- violent and extreme content;
- pimping and human trafficking.
Discussion of the bill intensified amid news of the arrest of participants in a corruption scheme linked to “covering up” the activities of a network of so-called “porn offices.”
As a reminder, the Rada passed a law that effectively places the NABU and the SAPO under the authority of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
On July 22, about a thousand people protested in the capital against the law passed by the Verkhovna Rada, which eliminates the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
