Elizabeth Smart Fights to Remove Her Name From Anti-Pornography Bill

Elizabeth Smart’s 2002 kidnapping has nothing to do with pornography, but her name was still attached to a proposal in the Rhode Island legislature. Smart is now fighting to get her name removed from it.

According to the Associated Press, Smart sent a cease-and-desist letter, asking for her name to be removed. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has also asked that the man who proposed the legislation, Chris Sevier, stop saying the center supported it.

The controversial bill calls for a filter on every internet-connected device in Rhode Island, and would charge people $20 to remove it. According to the bill’s website, its goal is to stop human trafficking by “making prostitution hubs, child pornography, revenge pornography, and obscenity, as defined under the existing obscenity code, more inconvenient to access” and also “protects children and families from unhealthy, unprotected, and illegal content.”

Sevier told the AP after hearing about the cease-and-desist letter that it was an “offhand name” attached to it by lawmakers. The bill’s website refers to it as the “Human Trafficking And Child Exploitation Prevention Act,” but notes it is “also referred to as the Elizabeth Smart Law.”

“Obviously, we’re not trying to hurt Elizabeth Smart, for God’s sake,” Sevier told the AP. “We don’t really care what it’s called. We just want it to pass. And we’re going to see to it that it passes, and the law is on our side.”

While the bill has earned bipartisan political support in state legislatures across the country, the American Civil Liberties Union has come out against it. The Electronic Frontier Foundation called the bill “unconstitutional” and accused Sevier of “exploiting the tragedy of human trafficking for what seems to be a crusade against pornography.

Sevier also has a questionable past. In 2014, he was found guilty for making threats and harassing country singer John Rich. He also once sued Alabama and other states for refusing to let him marry his computer in a statement against same-sex marriage.

Last week, his suit in Utah was tossed by a federal judge. Sevier told FOX 13 he will appeal the decision.

In 2013, Sevier also sued Apple for letting him access pornography on his laptop, which he claimed allowed him to develop an addiction to pornography and led to his divorce. He has also tried and failed twice to get his Tennessee law license reinstated.

According to The Daily Beast, Sevier was also accused of assault in his divorce case.

“I don’t give a damn about what anybody thinks about me,” Sevier told the Daily Beast. “I know all about what fake news is. I know all about how courts can be abused.”