An ultra-conservative Oklahoman Republican is on a crusade in a bid to “restore moral sanity” in the state, emboldened by Donald Trump’s election in November.
Senator Dusty Deevers, an abortion abolitionist, pastor, and Oklahoma State Senator announced eight executive measures last Tuesday aimed at railing “against the moral decay foisted upon Oklahoma” – including a bill that seeks aims to penalize anybody who engages with porn.
The eight legislative bills are aimed at removing abortion rights, handing out jail sentences for the possession of pornography with increased sentences for child pornography, banning children from watching drag queen performances, promoting the sanctity of marriage, removing “incompatibility” as a justification for divorce, offering tax credits to incentivize adoption, promoting two-parent households, and granting Christian health insurance firms the same tax benefits as regular insurance companies.
Strikingly, if his pornography bill passes, people who produce, distribute, or possess pornographic material could face up to 30 years in prison as a criminal penalty as Deevers believes “pornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug”.
He went on in the bill to add that pornography was a destructive vice that “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.”
In the past, Deevers appeared in a podcast stating that people in society will either stray toward God, or the Devil – suggesting there was no scope for anything in between, particularly when it came to immoral temptations such as porn.
“Either you’re coming under the rule of God your creator[…]or you’re going to come under the rule of The Serpent,” he told Jon Harris, presenter of the “Conversations That Matter" podcast – a channel that “delves into Christian, traditional, and masculine views on theology, culture, and politics”, according to the Youtube listing.
Deevers blamed the far left’s influence for the “moral decay” of institutions in Oklahoma and his bills echo the conservative values and ideals drawn up in the highly controversial and discriminatory Project 2025.
The 900-page plan, drawn up by former Trump aides and endorsed by right-wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation, has often been deemed as the lynchpin for driving ultra-conservative ideals in Trump’s second term.
“Sadly, the left’s century-long assault on morality and decency has been so successful that some have come to accept as normal a society that is drowning in hardcore pornography, prenatal homicide, and sexual performances for children”, said Deevers.
“None of this is normal. Each one of these evils is a result of a policy choice to not stand for what we know is right. Opposing these evils does not mean we are extremists. It means we are sane,” he added in the press release.
The outspoken bills were announced after more than a third of U.S. states announced restrictions for explicit online content, choosing to block pornographic websites such as Pornhub.
Since the start of 2025, 17 states have put porn restrictions in place, which require visitors to provide state-approved identification to access the material.
However, these restrictions have led to a surge in VPN purchases, highlighting that many still seek access despite what state senators preach.
