South Carolina H 3043: Sexual exploitation of minors, morphed child pornography

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3043 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3043

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 16-15-375, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS APPLICABLE TO CERTAIN OFFENSES 
AGAINST MINORS, SO AS TO DEFINE THE TERM "IDENTIFIABLE MINOR"; BY AMENDING 
SECTION 16-15-395, RELATING TO FIRST DEGREE SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF A MINOR, 
SECTION 16-15-405, RELATING TO SECOND DEGREE SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF A MINOR, and 
SECTION 16-15-410, RELATING TO THIRD DEGREE SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF A MINOR, ALL 
SO AS TO INCORPORATE IDENTIFIABLE MINORS INTO THE PURVIEW OF THE STATUTE TO 
ADDRESS MORPHED CHILD IMAGES; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 16-15-342, RELATING TO 
CRIMINAL SOLICITATION OF A MINOR, SECTION 16-15-387, RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT OF 
A PERSON UNDER EIGHTEEN TO APPEAR IN PUBLIC IN A STATE OF SEXUALLY EXPLICIT 
NUDITY, SECTION 44-48-30, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS FOR PURPOSES OF THE SEXUALLY 
VIOLENT PREDATOR ACT, AND SECTION 23-3-430, RELATING TO THE SEX OFFENDER 
REGISTRY, ALL SO AS TO MAKE CONFORMING CHANGES.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 16-15-375 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
16-15-375. The following definitions apply to 
Section 16-15-385, disseminating or exhibiting to minors harmful material or 
performances; Section 16-15-387, employing a person under the age of eighteen 
years to appear in a state of sexually explicit nudity in a public place; 
Section 16-15-395, first degree sexual exploitation of a minor; Section 
16-15-405, second degree sexual exploitation of a minor; Section 16-15-410, 
third degree sexual exploitation of a minor; Section 16-15-415, promoting 
prostitution of a minor; and Section 16-15-425, participating in prostitution 
of a minor.

 (1) 
"Harmful to minors" means that quality of any material or performance that 
depicts sexually explicit nudity or sexual activity and that, taken as a whole, 
has the following characteristics:

 (a) 
the average adult person applying contemporary community standards would find 
that the material or performance has a predominant tendency to appeal to a 
prurient interest of minors in sex; and

 (b) 
the average adult person applying contemporary community standards would find 
that the depiction of sexually explicit nudity or sexual activity in the 
material or performance is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the 
adult community concerning what is suitable for minors; and

 (c) 
to a reasonable person, the material or performance taken as a whole lacks 
serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

 (2) "Identifiable minor" means a 
person who was a minor at the time the image was created, altered, adapted, or 
modified, or whose image as a minor was used in the creating, altering, 
adapting, or modifying of the image, and who is recognizable as an actual person 
by the person's face, likeness, or other distinguishing characteristics, such 
as a unique birthmark, or other recognizable feature. The term may not be 
construed to require proof of the actual identity of the identifiable minor.

 (2)(3) "Material" means pictures, drawings, video recordings, 
films, digital electronic files, or other visual depictions or representations 
but not material consisting entirely of written words.

 (3)(4) "Minor" means an individual who is less than eighteen 
years old.

 (4)(5) "Prostitution" means engaging or offering to engage in 
sexual activity with or for another in exchange for anything of value.

 (5)(6) "Sexual activity" includes any of the following acts 
or simulations thereof:

 (a) 
masturbation, whether done alone or with another human or animal;

 (b) 
vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse, whether done with another human or an 
animal;

 (c) 
touching, in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or sexual abuse, of the 
clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, or buttocks of another person or the 
clothed or unclothed breasts of a human female;

 (d) 
an act or condition that depicts bestiality, sado-masochistic abuse, meaning 
flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in 
undergarments or in a costume which reveals the pubic hair, anus, vulva, 
genitals, or female breast nipples, or the condition of being fettered, bound, 
or otherwise physically restrained on the part of the one so clothed;

 (e) 
excretory functions;

 (f) 
the insertion of any part of a person's body, other than the male sexual organ, 
or of any object into another person's anus or vagina, except when done as part 
of a recognized medical procedure.

 (6)(7) "Sexually explicit nudity" means the showing of:

 (a) 
uncovered, or less than opaquely covered human genitals, pubic area, o