For most of recorded history, male legislators and jurists have wielded the power to decide what, if any, choices females might have in determining their reproductive destinies. Men have made and interpreted the laws that govern the use and availability of contraception and the permissibility of abortion.
Now in a vain — but irresistibly symbolic — attempt at leveling the playing field for both sexes, a handful of female state legislators have suggested they’ve got some ideas for hurdles that men should jump through in matters regarding their sexuality. Although these bills stand no chance of making their way into law, they illustrate the frustration and anger many women feel about the male role in governing their reproductive rights.
In the past four years or so, female legislators in a handful of states have introduced bills that would make it more difficult for men to purchase erectile dysfunction medications. In 2012 when Illinois state lawmakers moved to make it more difficult for women to get abortions, Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, struck back.
Ultrasound Opportunity Act
Cassidy’s target was the Ultrasound Opportunity Act, a bill that would make it mandatory for women seeking an abortion to view an ultrasound of their fetus or sign a statement explaining their reasons for refusing to do so. To counter that measure, Rep. Cassidy suggested she would introduce an amendment that would require men planning to purchase Viagra to first view a video outlining the drug’s potential side effects. Reportedly, the video in question focuses on one of Viagra’s rare but very serious side effects — priapism, an erection lasting more than four hours.
The publicity about Cassidy’s proposed amendment also called public attention to the very conservative House Agriculture Committee and its introduction of legislation that has nothing at all to do with farming or the environment. In 2011, according to an article at HuffingtonPost.com, the Better Government Association reported that seven such bills had come out of the committee. The bills, all controversial to some degree, covered such non-agricultural topics as gambling, abortion rights, and the state’s concealed carry measure.
In its commentary on this rather unorthodox use of the committee for the origination of controversial legislation, the BGA noted that while “this is a completely legal tactic and does not violate House rules, it’s not a good government approach to passing laws.” The association went on to say that taxpayers “rely on lawmakers to make good public policy decisions.”
Ultrasound Bill Failed to Pass
Ultimately, neither the Ultrasound Opportunity Act nor Cassidy’s proposed amendment became law. A somewhat watered-down version of the former is still floating around the Illinois General Assembly, but its supporters have not yet been able to push it across the finish line. And Cassidy’s amendment was one of the opening salvos in a battle between the sexes on the sensitive subject of legislation that affects human sexuality and reproductive rights.
Elsewhere in the Midwest about the same time as Cassidy was proposing her Viagra amendment, a female state senator in Ohio was growing increasingly angry as her fellow senators — mostly male and Republican — voted on bills regulating women’s reproductive health. Sen. Nina Turner, a Democrat from Cleveland, introduced a bill that would make it impossible for men to purchase erectile dysfunction drugs without first meeting a series of conditions. Under those conditions, a man seeking to buy Viagra, for example, would need first to present a notarized affidavit from a recent sexual partner attesting to his inability to get an erection, consult with a sex therapist, and undergo a cardiac stress test.
‘Spilled Semen’ Amendment
In an interview with Huffington Post political writer Laura Bassett, Sen. Turner said, “We should show the same attention and love to men’s reproductive health as we do to women’s. And my bill does that.” She admitted that she was inspired to introduce her amendment by similar acts taken by female state legislators elsewhere around the country. Among others, Turner pointed to the “spilled semen” amendment proposed by Oklahoma State Senator Constance Johnson.
As Oklahoma state legislators were debating the so-called personhood bill in early 2012, Sen. Johnson felt herself moved to action by what she described as “the hypocrisy of Republican lawmakers who want to police women’s reproductive health.” With her proposed amendment, she sought to counter multiple legislative efforts to police what happens to a woman’s eggs with a comparable measure to regulate the fate of male sperm.
Meant to Highlight Hypocrisy
Her amendment called for “any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman’s vagina” to be “interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.” In an op-ed article written for TheGuardian.com, Sen. Johnson said her amendment was designed “to draw humorous attention to the hypocrisy and inconsistency of this proposal — from the Republican perspective of down-sized government and less government intrusion into people’s private affairs.”
Also targeted by female state legislators has been male access to vasectomy procedures. In early 2012, Georgia State Rep. Yasmin Neal and Missouri State Rep. Stacey Newman both introduced legislation to sharply limit men’s ability to get a vasectomy. Under their bills, only men at heightened risk of severe injury or death would be permitted to have the procedure done. Newman’s bill required that all vasectomy providers meet the standards of an ambulatory surgical center, a requirement that would essentially prohibit vasectomies done in a doctor’s office, one of the more common settings for the procedure.
More recently, female state legislators in South Carolina and Kentucky have introduced measures that would restrict men’s ability to purchase erectile dysfunction medications. In late December 2015, South Carolina State Rep. Mia McLeod, a Democrat from Columbia, pre-filed a bill that would limit men’s access to such drugs as Viagra and Cialis. In an interview with a local Columbia newspaper, Rep. McLeod said she was sick and tired of the steady stream of bills seeking to limit women’s access to abortion. “I just decided that until they can stay out of my uterus, I would refuse to stay out of their bedroom.”
Angry about a proposed bill that would require women to have a medical consultation 24 hours before having an abortion, Kentucky State Rep. Mary Lou Marzian decided she also would propose legislation restricting male access to erectile dysfunction drugs. Her bill, introduced in February 2016, would require a man seeking ED drugs to have two doctor visits, a signed-and-dated letter of consent from his spouse, and a sworn statement that the drug would be used only to facilitate sex with his spouse. And, yes, under Marzian’s proposed legislation, only married men would have access to ED drugs.
Marzian Explains Her Motives
Like those who have gone before her, Rep. Marzian freely acknowledged that her bill had no chance of passage but was intended to point up what she sees as hypocrisy from politicians. She noted that male legislators defeated bills that would have imposed a smoking ban or tightened a booster seat requirement as unnecessary government intrusion into private affairs. Yet they continue to pass a series of bills that curtail women’s reproductive rights.
In a phone interview with New York Times writer Daniel Victor, Rep. Marzian said she has found that men are very sensitive about their sex lives, considering such matters to be very private and personal. “So I wanted to hit a chord that men could understand how it feels to have a politician say, ‘Well, you really don’t know enough; you really need some education about this because you just don’t know enough about your body; and we need to insert ourselves into your private life.’ ”
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Don Amerman is a freelance author who writes extensively about a wide array of nutrition and health-related topics.
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