I’m loving this new game of Bill/Counter-Bill that seems to be trending in legislatures nationwide, as Republicans introduce draconian Handmaids-Tale-esque laws and Democrats return fire with purposefully absurd bills. These bills are introduced, of course, to highlight the absurdity of the current legislative war that Republicans are waging against women.
We’ve seen a “no sperm is sacred” bill in Oklahoma ; a bill banning vasectomies in Georgia; and a rectal amendment bill in Virginia, among others.
Well, Ohio has thrown its whimsical hat into the ring with a bill that would regulate men’s access to erectile dysfunction drugs like Cialis and Viagra:
Before getting a prescription for Viagra or other erectile dysfunction drugs, men would have to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency, if state Sen. Nina Turner has her way.
The Cleveland Democrat introduced Senate Bill 307 this week.
A critic of efforts to restrict abortion and contraception for women, Turner says she is concerned about men’s reproductive health… Turner said if state policymakers want to legislate women’s health choices through measures such as House Bill 125, known as the ‘Heartbeat bill,’ they should also be able to legislate men’s reproductive health.
Marvelous. More of these please.
[via Think Progress]
I would like to see more of these kinds of bills introduced too.
Here’s why my state rep is getting my vote! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/05/viagra-amendment-ultrasound-mandate-illinois_n_1321800.html
This is great – but I think its too small.
Here’s a question – why isn’t every single female legislator not doing this? Why aren’t women en masse in these states picketing? If women were in the majority in legislator and made sex without condoms a misdemeanor – there would be a civil war.
This isn’t about religious beliefs or “protecting life” – its about a bunch of cynical white guys trying to transpose their neurotic ideas about sex onto grown women.
What scares me even more are a small but significant minority of women (almost of whom are all devoutly religious) in the modern US who wholly agree with the idea that a bunch of men dictating what women should do with their genitals. I’m mad as a man that more women, regardless of personal beliefs, aren’t standing up and saying that people with Y chromosomes should not be dictating with women do with their bodies in 2012.