By Niki Kelly
Indiana Capital Chronicle

Attorney General Todd Rokita is suing about 50 sexually explicit websites, alleging they have violated Indiana’s age-verification law.

The lawsuits allege that the content made available to children by the defendants — all of whom are associated with a multinational pornographic conglomerate known as Aylo — includes sexual violence, choking, rape fantasies, sex slavery and sex with teen girls.

“We know for a fact, from years of research, that adolescent exposure to pornography carries severe physical and psychological harms,” Rokita said. “It makes boys more likely to perpetrate sexual violence and girls more likely to be sexually victimized. Yet, despite such realities, these defendants seem intent on peddling their pornographic perversions to Hoosier kids.”

Lawmakers in 2024 passed the law requiring websites that host pornography to verify that users are at least 18 years old. As a result, Pornhub, which is owned by Aylo, blocked access to the site in Indiana.

Challenges to the law were ultimately unsuccessful.

“Rather than implement any form of reasonable age verification for its websites, Defendants represented to Indiana consumers, including Hoosier parents, that they had ‘completely disable[d] access to our website[s] in Indiana.’ However, Defendants have publicly admitted they know that Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), proxies, and location spoofing software may be used to continue to access Defendants’ websites in Indiana,” the lawsuit said.

In addition to Indiana’s age-verification law, Rokita’s lawsuit also alleges the defendants violated the state’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act in several ways:

1) by making false and misleading statements regarding the accessibility of the pornographic websites by Indiana residents and 2) by misleading consumers about their alleged hosting of child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual material.

The attorney general’s office is seeking an injunction, civil penalties and costs.

“Despite these known harms to minors, the Defendants’ websites are pumping enormous amounts of pornographic content onto the internet, where minors can and do freely access it,” the lawsuit said.

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The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to giving Hoosiers a comprehensive look inside state government, policy and elections. The site combines daily coverage with in-depth scrutiny, political awareness and insightful commentary.

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SOUTH BEND (AP) — A University of Notre Dame professor has filed a defamation lawsuit against a student-run publication over news coverage of her abortion-rights work.

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John-Vincent Louis and his family are seeking compensation for a career-ending knee injury he suffered while attending a Notre Dame football camp four years ago, WNDU reports. 

"I've lost a considerable amount of my faith, my self esteem and my confidence," said John-Vincent Louis. He calls the school's treatment of his injury "barbaric".

Louis tore a ligament in his leg at the University of Notre Dame summer football camp in 2013. WNDU reports it happened on an uneven field. Louis claims the university was negligent in its response to the injury.

"I would like to know why they feel it's OK to not inform parents of when their son or daughter is injured," said Louis.

John-Vincent's mother says she was not informed he was injured until she went to pick him up at the end of the day, despite being listed as his emergency contact. She did sign a risk waiver form before the camp.

"I don't care if they're a powerhouse. I don't care. What's right is right. You don't do this to children. You don't throw them away like they're garbage," said Louis.

WNDU reports the family is asking for compensation beyond the medical insurance coverage offered under the camp waiver, but Notre Dame denies many of the family's claims. The defense team says the injury was inherent in the nature of football and claims for anything other than medical insurance coverage from the University do not belong in the case, according to court documents.

The Louis family attorney wouldn't say how much they are seeking in damages, and that they waited this long to file the suit because it has taken four years to gather relevant medical records and other information to build the case.

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The federal lawsuit filed Thursday by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana says the law is unconstitutional and seeks to block some of its provisions from taking effect July 1.

Gov. Eric Holcomb, who signed the law April 25, has called the measure a “parental rights issue.”

The law requires judges considering giving a minor permission to have an abortion to also consider whether her parents should be notified.

Betty Cockrum is Planned Parenthood’s local president. She says the law “will have a chilling effect on teenagers already dealing with a difficult situation.”

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