UPDATE:

Why this matters:

​I moved to Nebraska when I was a young teenager. I was a young teenager when predators found me online. They didn't need to blackmail me. They just...got inside my head.

​The manipulation was so powerful that I could have easily accidentally killed myself. I learned that what happened to me didn't really have a name in the law. It happened through a screen, so somehow that made it less real, less prosecutable. I was told, essentially, that what nearly killed me wasn't quite a crime. The predator would say it wasn't sexual, it was me self-harming myself.

​That was then.

​What just happened:

​On January 12, 2026, the House actually did something that made me cry. They unanimously passed a package of bills to protect kids like I was. H.R. 6719 goes after sextortion, and H.R. 6732, the CSAFE Act, finally addresses coercion of self-harm and suicide. These bills say what I needed to hear twenty years ago: that psychological coercion through a screen is real violence, and it should be treated that way.

​Where we are now:

​The bills are sitting in the Senate Judiciary Committee. There is one more piece, S. 3397, the ECCHO Act, that would close the "coercion loophole" for good.

​I am asking Senators Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts to co-sponsor S. 3397 and look at this not as legislation, but as a lifeline. For the kid in Nebraska who doesn't know yet that they are being groomed. For the parents who will never understand why their child is suddenly gone.

​You don't have to be in the room to kill someone. The command is the weapon. The screen doesn't make it less lethal; it makes it easier to hide.

​Please. Co-sponsor and give S. 3397 a vote.

The Issue

When I was younger, I was the child these laws would have protected. My experience involved pure psychological coercion. There was no "transaction" and I was not threatened with blackmail. Instead, I was systematically manipulated by a predator online into harming myself, resulting in severe physical pain and injury.

​At the time, the law did not know how to address abuse that occurred entirely through a screen. The harm was real, but the legal framework was not.

​Why These Two Bills Matter

I am petitioning for the passage of a comprehensive safety package that includes both the Combating Online Predators Act (H.R. 6719) and the ECCHO Act. Together, these laws close the critical gaps that predators use to exploit children.

​The Combating Online Predators Act is essential because it updates federal law to criminalize online threats and sextortion, ensuring predators cannot use fear or blackmail to silence victims. Crucially, I am also fighting for the ECCHO Act (Ending Coercion of Children and Harm Online Act), a newly introduced Senate bill that specifically criminalizes "coercing a child into self-harm." This legislation targets the sadistic psychological manipulation that forces children to injure themselves. The exact nightmare I survived.

​A Moral and Legal Imperative

Current laws often fail to recognize that a predator does not need to be in the room to hold the weapon. In the digital age, the command is the weapon. According to CyberTipline data, reports of online child exploitation have reached staggering levels, yet law enforcement agencies are often constrained by outdated statutes that require physical contact to make an arrest.

​These bills change that. They acknowledge that online violence is real violence.

​My Plea to Congress

I urge Representative Adrian Smith, Senator Deb Fischer, Senator Pete Ricketts, and all members of Congress to co-sponsor and pass both H.R. 6719 and the ECCHO Act immediately. My story reflects what happens when the law fails to recognize evolving forms of exploitation. Let’s ensure that no other child is left unprotected simply because their abuse occurred through a screen.