Petition · past parliament · Ministry of Justice

Change the law to treat child porn as child sexual abuse

Closed 914 signatures

What the petition asks

I would like the Government to change the law to treat child pornography in the same way as child sexual abuse. The term child porn negates that abuse has taken place and can result in lighter sentencing.
We would like the government to make sure online child abuse does not go unpunished by law. Online use of child abuse and distribution of child abuse should be treated the same in law as physical child abuse. The term child porn should also no longer be used when referencing sex with minors, children and infants as they cannot and do not give consent for the acts that are committed against them, nor do they have control over where the images are used or how, therefore it is and should always be referred to as child abuse.

Timeline

1 Sep 2020 Petition opened for signatures
1 Mar 2021 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 914
Status Closed
Department Ministry of Justice
Opened 1 Sep 2020
Closed 1 Mar 2021

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.