A Republican state senator in Oklahoma has introduced eight bills “aimed at restoring moral sanity,” including legislation making possession of a wide range of pornography a criminal offense and an end to no fault divorce.

The bills were introduced by Senator Dusty Deevers on January 21 in response to what he termed “the left’s century-long assault on morality and decency.”

Newsweek contacted Senator Deevers for comment via email on Wednesday outside of regular office hours.

Why It Matters

According to an Institute for Family Studies report published in May 2022, 58 percent of Americans said they had watched pornography at some point in their lives, including 27 percent in the past month, with this figure rising to 44 percent for men.

Criminalizing such a widespread activity would have massive implications for the criminal justice system and critics argue it would violate the First Amendment protection of free expression.

Over the past few years a series of Republican-controlled states have passed legislation requiring age verification to access pornographic material online. In response a number of major pornography websites, including Pornhub, have blocked access from these states and interest in virtual private networks (VPNs) to circumvent this surged when the legislation came into effect.

What To Know

On January 21 Deevers introduced eight bills, including SB 593, which both toughens the penalties for possession of child pornography and makes a wide variety of other pornography illegal.

The legislation defines any “visual depiction or individual image” showing a range of acts, including vaginal, anal and oral sexual intercourse and the “lewd exhibition” of uncovered sexual organs as unlawful pornography.

Pointedly the legislation would not prevent spouses from sending each other sexually explicit images.

Anyone convicted of procuring, viewing or possessing unlawful pornography would be guilty of a felony and face imprisonment of up to 10 years and a maximum fine of $100,000.

SB 593 would also raise the penalty for possession of child pornography from 0-20 years imprisonment to 10-30 years, and increase the maximum fine from $25,000 to $250,000.

Other bills introduced by Deevers would end no fault divorce by removing “incompatibility” as a justification, ban drag performances in front of children and make it illegal for pregnant women to take abortion pills ordered online.

What People Are Saying

In a press release Deevers said: “Pornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug.

“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.”

Mike Stabile, director of public policy for the Free Speech Coalition, told The Oklahoman that Deevers is: “Attempting to pass a grossly invasive censorship bill by trying to link legal adult content, produced by and for adults, with vile and illegal abuse content, hoping it will be enough to sway the public.

“Senator Deevers is welcome to choose what books he might read and what movies he might see—he does not have the right to inspect the bookshelves and phones of Oklahomans for legal material he finds morally objectionable.”

What Happens Next

As Deevers’ legislation has only just been introduced it has not received any committee reports, and there is no indication SB 593 will be a policy priority for the wider Oklahoma Republican Party. A similar bill introduced by Deevers in 2024 failed to pass into law.