What to know about an Oklahoma senator's efforts to 'restore moral sanity' in his state

An Oklahoma senator introduced a series of bills Tuesday, including one that would ban pornography in the entire state and increase penalties for those who produce child sexual abuse material.

Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin called the bill, SB593, and seven others he introduced a “slate of legislation to restore moral sanity in Oklahoma."

If the bill regarding pornography passes, those found guilty of producing, distributing or possessing pornography would face criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

“Pornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug,” Deevers said in a news release. “It ruins marriages, ruins lives, destroys innocence, warps young people’s perception of the opposite sex, turns women into objects, turns men into objects, degrades human dignity, and corrodes the moral fabric of society. Any decent society will stand against this plague with the full weight of the law.”

The bill would “significantly heighten” current zero-to-20-year penalties for the possession, distribution and production of child sexual assault material to 10-to-30 years, Deevers announced. Any additional offenses relating to child sexual assault material will lead to 15 to 50 years in prison. 

“There is perhaps no more psychopathic and antisocial behavior in existence than producing, distributing, or watching child sexual abuse material,” Deevers said in the release. “These people should not be back on our streets after brief stints behind bars. Rather, they should be locked away for decades at a minimum.”

Deevers’ bill echoes Project 2025, a political initiative listing conservative ideals and legislative proposals.

According to the project and its authors, people who produce any porn are “child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women.”

“Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime,” the authors wrote. “Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.”

Current age verification laws

Deevers’ bill comes after many states, Oklahoma included, have passed laws that require age verification to access pornography. According to the Age Verification Providers Association, the following states have passed such laws.

• Louisiana
• Utah
• Mississippi
• Virginia
• Arkansas
• Texas
• Montana
• North Carolina
• Idaho
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Nebraska
• Indiana
• Alabama
• Florida
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Georgia

Deevers’ other bills target abortion, marriage, divorce, drag shows and more

Deevers also introduced seven other bills Tuesday, including:

• SB456 – The Abolition of Abortion Act, which would close the self-managed abortion loophole and “declares that life begins at conception and ensures that no person may lawfully terminate the life of a child in the womb,” Deevers said.
• SB550—Ensures that Oklahoma kids cannot see adult cabaret performances, including Drag Queen Story Hour. Those who perform these shows around children would face a prison sentence of one to five years and organizers would face up to one year in prison.
• SB228 – The Covenant Marriage Act, which would allow couples in Oklahoma to opt into a covenant marriage, only to be dissolved in cases of abuse, adultery, or abandonment. Those who opt in would be eligible for a $2,500 tax credit.
• SB829 – The bill would end no-fault divorce in Oklahoma by removing “incompatibility” as a valid reason for divorce. If signed into law, divorces would only be allowed in cases of abandonment, gross neglect, extreme cruelty, habitual drunkenness, insanity for a period of five years, adultery, unknown pregnancy and fraudulent contract. The at-fault parent must pay restitution to the children involved by putting money into a trust fund the children can access when they turn 18.
• SB281 – The Make Adoption Affordable Again Act, which would provide tax credits to families seeking to adopt and those who donate to adoption-facilitating organizations. The bill would provide a tax credit of up to $10,000 for individuals and $50,000 for businesses.
• SB328 – The Promote Child Thriving Act, which would create a $500 tax credit per child for a mother and father filing jointly. The credit would be escalated to $1,000 if the child was born after the marriage of the parents.
• SB736 – This bill would grant health share ministries the same tax benefits as traditional insurance, making sure that those who opt into these plans are not discriminated against in the tax code. 

“Health care should honor our convictions,” said Deevers. “This bill ensures that families who choose Christ-centered health solutions are not penalized.”

In his news release, Deevers condemned democrats and leftists, arguing that the political party has spearheaded a “century-long assault on morality and decency.”

“Contrary to what the left would have us believe, it doesn’t have to be this way,” he said. “We can protect the most vulnerable, restore a high view of marriage, and shield children from explicit material that can warp their innocent minds. We simply must have the courage to stand against the most radical and degenerate elements of the far-left.”

Proposed bill is free speech issue, say critics

Mike Stabile, Director of Public Policy for the Free Speech Coalition, an organization that represents workers and businesses in the adult industry, said Monday morning that Deevers' bill is not shocking.

"Politicians on the right have been quite explicit about their desire to ban sexual content, even when it's privately viewed by adults in their own homes," he wrote in an email to Paste BN.

He added that bills focusing on age verification are simply porn ban bills in disguise, especially in southern states. These calls for action against "pornographers," he said, apply to adult content creators writers, artists and educators.

"Porn is the canary in the coal mine of free speech, and the trial balloon used by governments to pass laws that can censor speech more broadly," he said. "No matter how people feel about adult content, we should all be concerned about the proposed government crackdown on speech."

Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.