Conservative Policies Advance in Legislative Process

April 30th, 2021

The Legislature has passed and the Governor has signed multiple bills into law to uphold conservative principles, including several bills that protect the sanctity of life.

House Bill 2441 will stop abortions from being performed once an unborn child is determined to have a detectable heartbeat. This change would allow for abortion only if a medical emergency threatens the life of the mother. I was proud to co-author this legislation and will always fight to protect the life of the unborn and advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves.

The second pro-life bill signed this week was House Bill 1102, which would revoke the medical license of doctors who perform abortions that are not medically necessary to prevent “irreversible physical impairment” or death of the mother.

Both of these laws will take effect Nov. 1.

The Governor also signed legislation to protect our constitutional right to worship.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” House Bill 2648 creates the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act and dictates that anything closing places of worship would be considered a substantial burden on people’s freedom of religion.

The bill’s author, Rep. Brian Hill, pursued the legislation after learning that many states’ governments had forced places of worship to close throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s very concerning to me how churches in many states across our country were required to shut down during the pandemic while at the same time marijuana dispensaries, casinos and many other retail businesses were allowed to stay open. I was proud to sign on as a co-author in supporting this bill.

The House approved a Senate amendment to House Bill 1775 to prohibit Oklahoma public schools, colleges and universities from incorporating certain messages about gender and race into any course instruction. The bill also will prohibit requiring mandatory gender or sexual diversity training or counseling in the schools.

The bill doesn’t prevent teachers from teaching historical events nor the atrocities of things like slavery or genocide; instead, the bill says students shouldn’t be made to feel personally responsible for the actions of people in the past or guilty because of their gender or skin color.

HB1775 doesn’t stop open discussions from occurring. It’s one thing to present other points of views to students so they can form their own ideas, but it’s another thing entirely to shame students and guilt-trip them for their gender or skin color.

There are some state public schools and universities currently teaching the curriculum and requiring the training, which brought the need for the legislation. HB1775 has been sent to the Governor.

The House will continue considering Senate amendments to House bills next week. Please feel free to reach out to my office to share thoughts on legislation. Thank you the honor of representing House District 51—God bless!