Ag-gag laws are a blatant violation of the United States Constitution.
Many of you may have heard of the new attempts at silencing those who expose animal cruelty through new laws, known as “ag gag”. Ag-gag laws are laws specifically aimed at those who expose animal abuse through undercover video and pictures. Needless to say, the abusers would prefer to keep their secrets unknown, so through powerful lobbying efforts, they have managed to get ag-gag laws passed in several states. These laws make it illegal to photograph or videotape at agricultural facilities, or to possess or distribute such evidence. To date, there are eleven states that have introduced ag-gag bills, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Utah, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Idaho. Legislators in other states are poised to do the same. While these bills have been defeated in some states, ag-gag bills have passed in Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Utah, Missouri, and most recently, Idaho.
Ag-gag laws are reprehensible. They are a blatant violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution. Moreover, they are a direct attack on animal rights activists who are doing their best to educate the public, hold huge corporations accountable, and expose the horrific cruelty that takes place in the agricultural industry, and specifically, on factory farms. Ag-gag laws are a direct attempt to silence whistleblowers and eliminate the critical evidence of animal abuse, and also of worker abuse and other abuses that take place on factory farms. Furthermore, restrictions or prohibitions of accumulating photographic and video evidence on factory farms just about eliminates the opportunities for food safety violations to be discovered, thereby increasing the risk that consumers could be exposed to and contract illnesses from the consumption of unsafe food products.
Ag-gag bills are not designed to offer justifiable and reasonable protections, but rather, to place restraints on First Amendment free speech rights by making it a crime to take photos or video on a factory farm of any form of abuse or illegal behavior. Under the guise of property rights, ag-gag bills are intended to prevent consumers from ever seeing the horrors of animal abuse, contaminated crops, illegal working conditions, and risky food safety practices—the sort that result in massive food safety recalls and all too frequently lead to outbreaks of food-borne illness—that are common practice behind factory farm gates.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), Mercy for Animals (MFA), The Humane Society, and other animal rights groups, journalists, and a broad range of stakeholders have raised concerns about the potentially devastating impacts of these and newer ag-gag legislation efforts. Not only is food safety at stake, but our very core rights of free speech are equally at stake. Ag-gag is a grave concern for everyone from journalists to whistleblowers to animals to mothers concerned about the safety of their children’s food.
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