Legislation that would prevent officials from housing “transgender women”—men who self-identify as females—alongside women in state prisons has advanced from a state Senate committee.

“This makes sure that you do not house men in spaces reserved for women, nor women in spaces reserved for men,” said state Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville.

Senate Bill 418, by Daniels, requires state prisons to “designate each multi-occupancy restroom, changing room, and sleeping quarters for the exclusive use of either females or males.”

Female inmates forced to share sleeping spaces or restrooms with male inmates would have a private cause of action under the legislation.

State Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, questioned why the bill was not limited to “inmates” rather than all “individuals,” suggesting that the restriction could cause problems for prison visitors such as women with infant children.

But Matt Sharp, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which supports the bill, noted that the legislation allows prisons to adopt policies for those in need of assistance.

“The intent behind it was to make sure that it is very broad,” Sharp said. “We want to make sure that every woman in a correctional facility has her privacy protected.”

Sharp noted that the state of Louisiana already has a similar law and that SB 418 is also similar to an executive order recently issued by President Donald Trump that provides guidance to federal prisons.

In recent years, officials in other states and countries have increasingly housed males in female correctional facilities if the man claims to identify as a woman.

That practice is associated with increased risk for women.

A recent review in England and Wales found that almost two-thirds of males in prison who now identify as transgender women have been convicted of sex offenses. That’s far higher than the overall rate in the male population. About 17 percent of men in prison in England and Wales have been convicted of sexual offenses.

SB 418 passed the Senate Public Safety Committee on a 7-2 vote that broke along party lines with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed.