Lauren Book endorses Vern Buchanan legislation to ban childlike sex dolls

Lauren Book, Vern Buchanan.

Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan’s legislation banning childlike sex dolls picked up a prominent Democrat supporter.

State Sen. Lauren Book endorsed the Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act (CREEPER Act), legislation Buchanan reintroduced last week.

Book, a Plantation Democrat, sponsored similar legislation passed in the Florida Legislature and signed into law in 2019.

“These anatomically correct, lifelike silicone dolls are eerily similar to real human children made for the sole purpose of sexual gratification,” Book said. “Just as viewing child pornography lowers the inhibitions of child predators so too do these childlike sex dolls — putting children’s safety at risk.”

Thanks to Book’s legislation, Florida is one of three states to legally ban such dolls, along with Kentucky and Tennessee. But she said it’s important pedophiles can’t go anywhere in the nation to feed their appetites for sex tools resembling children.

“What happens when the doll is no longer enough?,” Book said. “I support Congressman Buchanan’s CREEPER Act 2.0 to expand the ban on the sale and possession of childlike sex dolls throughout all 50 states. These dolls have no place in our communities.”

The House in 2018 passed a version of the CREEPER Act (HR 4655) by voice vote, but the measure died in the Senate. Buchanan said he felt the need to raise the issue again following reports out of South Florida that a doll on the market had been modeled after a Miami child.

He welcomed Book’s endorsement. In addition to sponsoring the state version of the law, Book for years has worked on protecting children from sex predators.

“I have tremendous admiration for Ms. Book,” Buchanan said. “Nothing is more heinous than crimes against innocent and defenseless children.”

Buchanan said his version of the federal legislation improves on Florida’s law. For example, the version previously passed in the House would have outlawed the transportation and import of childlike sex dolls, but Buchanan’s bill also makes it illegal for individuals to sell or possess the contraband items.

His office also released expert support for the bill. The Sarasota Congressman has long worked with locally headquartered Selah Freedom, which has fought sex trafficking and worked to rescue young girls from sex rings.

“I support this bill and applaud Congressman Buchanan’s efforts,” said Selah Freedom President Elizabeth Fisher. “Our country needs to put our children’s safety and welfare first. Permitting the manufacturing and sale of child sex dolls condones pedophilia fantasies and allows them to get one step closer to abusing a real child.”

A release from Buchanan’s office also quotes Peter Fagan, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researcher who says childlike sex dolls have a “reinforcing effect” on pedophile’s ideation that can lead them to prey on children.

Notably, Buchanan has some political motivation for raising the profile of the issue now. The only member of the Florida Legislature on record voting against Book’s legislation, state Rep. Margaret Good, is his Democratic challenger for his House seat this cycle. Good originally voted for the bill, but changed her vote after the fact. She now says she did so in error and supports the legislation.