A Democratic lawmaker in Texas has proposed legislation that would fine men $100 for masturbating and require rectal exams before they get a vasectomy, a colonoscopy or a Viagra prescription.
State Rep. Jessica Farrar, of Houston, called her bill “satirical,” but said it was meant to highlight the struggles women faced while accessing health care under the restrictive reproductive laws pushed by the state’s GOP-led legislature.
Her bill promotes similarly invasive restrictions on men, including the fine for “emissions outside a woman’s vagina” which “will be considered an act against an unborn child, and failing to preserve the sanctity of life.” The bill, filed Friday, also requires storage of the “emissions” for future conception.
In addition, HB 4260 imposes a 24-hour waiting period on vasectomies, colonoscopies and Viagra prescriptions along with the “medically unnecessary” rectal exams.
Farrar said on Facebook that while some might find her proposal funny, “women are not laughing at state-imposed regulations and obstacles that interfere with their ability to legally access safe health care, and subject them to fake science and medically unnecessary procedures.”
Even the title of her proposal, “A Man’s Right To Know,” was a play on a contentious state-mandated booklet, “A Woman’s Right to Know,” which was part of a required process for women seeking abortions in Texas.
Farrar told the Texas Tribune:
“What I would like to see is this make people stop and think. Maybe my colleagues aren’t capable of that, but the people who voted for them, or the people that didn’t vote at all, I hope that it changes their mind and helps them to decide what the priorities are.”
Republicans are not amused.
“I’m embarrassed for Representative Farrar,” Rep. Tony Tinderholt, from Arlington, told the Tribune. “Her attempt to compare [HB 4260] to the abortion issue shows a lack of a basic understanding of human biology. I would recommend that she consider taking a high school biology class from a local public or charter school before filing another bill on the matter.”
But Farrar said her bill is based on exactly what the GOP has offered.
”Texans deserve to be treated with the same amount of respect when making healthcare decisions, regardless of their gender,” she wrote on Facebook.
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