Women This Week: UK to Pass Legislation Criminalizing Deepfake Images 

Image Creators and Sharers to be Charged   

The UK government is set to introduce new legislation that would criminalize the acts of creating and sharing sexually explicit deepfake images and of taking intimate images without a victim’s consent. The new law will be introduced under the government’s Crime and Policing Bill and would cover images of adults; those found guilty could face a two-year jail term. It is already an offense to create or share images of children, as well as to threaten or share such images, under the Sexual Offences Act of 2003 and, more recently, the Online Safety Act of 2023. Alex Davies-Jones, the Minister for Victims & Violence Against Women and Girls, said “It is unacceptable that one in three women have been victims of online abuse. This demeaning and disgusting form of chauvinism must not become normalized...These new offences will help prevent people being victimized online. We are putting offenders on notice – they will face the full force of the law.”  

House Passes Bill to Bar Transgender Students From Girl’s Sports  

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would restrict federal funding for schools that include transgender students in women and girls sports. The bill passed by a partisan vote of 218 to 206, with two Democrats from Texas joining to support the legislation. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act would define sex in Title IX rules as “reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” Supporters of the legislation argue that it will “preserve Title IX’s original intent,” while opponents argue that it will violate children’s privacy. “This doesn’t protect a girl’s rights, it eliminates them,” said Representative Katherine M. Clark (D-MA). “It puts a target on the back of every girl, every young woman who chooses to play sports...” The bill now moves to the Senate, where it will require the support of seven Democrats for passage.   

Thousands Choosing to Leave States with Strict Abortion Bans  

A new working report by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that people are choosing to leave states with strict abortion bans. In the thirteen states with the near-total abortion bans, data showed a net loss of 36,000 residents per quarter, with the majority of them being single-person households, indicating that more younger people are moving out, rather than established families. “In terms of the implications for states’ economies, our results suggest that employers in states with bans may face challenges in attracting and retaining workers, especially younger workers, which could impact economic growth and development,” said researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and The College of Wooster, who conducted the study.