Texas bill would fine men for masturbating, require ‘cooling off’ period before Viagra purchases
AUSTIN, TX (WCMH) – Democrats in Texas are using satirical legislation to fire back at Republicans for what they call attempts to control women’s bodies by proposing legislation that would penalize men for masturbating, require rectal exams for elective vasectomies and require a 24-hour cooling off period before men can buy Viagra.
Democratic State Representative Jessica Farrar filed House Bill 4260 on Friday, but she tells NBC News she’s under no illusion that HB 4260, which she freely admits “satirically mirrors real Texas laws,” will make it through the Republican and male-dominated Legislature.
The bill would impose a $100 fine for male masturbation. It would also create required reading materials about vasectomies, erectile dysfunction medication and colonoscopies to inform men of the risks and benefits of these medications and procedures.
According to the Texas Tribune, Farrar says the fine for masturbation would deter men from wasting semen that should be used to create human life, using the “sanctity of life” argument often invoked in legislation that takes aim at abortions. Farrar contends more needs to be done to protect sperm “because that semen can be used – and is to be used – for creating more life.”
“Men have to answer for their actions and so forth,” Farrar told the Texas Tribune. “So if there’s going to be an emission, it would have to be done in a hospital where the semen could be preserved for future pregnancies or it would be directly deposited into the vagina of a woman.”
Farrar says the purpose of the bill is to make people stop and think about the “unnecessary” and “invasive” procedures that women seeking an abortion have to go through according to state laws.
“HB 4260 was written to highlight the glaring inequalities in how medical and reproductive health care legislation is handled for men and women,” the Houston Democrat wrote. It “mimics how legislators, with no formal knowledge of medical norms or practices, attempt to govern women’s health in the Texas Legislature.”
Under Farrar‘s proposal, which is called the “Man’s Right To Know Act,”if a woman has to wait 24 hours before she can have an abortion, a man would have to wait 24 hours to get his erectile dysfunction drug or have a vasectomy.
Doctors would also be allowed to use their religious beliefs to refuse to perform elective vasectomies and colonoscopies or prescribe medication for erectile dysfunction. The stipulations in the bill mirror the mandatory 24-hour waiting period and trans-vaginal ultrasound requirements that women seeking an abortion in the Lone Star State must meet.
As for her colleagues across the aisle, at least one doesn’t find Farrar’s attempt at legislative satire amusing.
“I’m embarrassed for Representative Farrar,” said Republican State Representative Tony Tinderholt, who recently introduced a bill that would charge abortion providers and women who receive an abortion with murder. “Her attempt to compare [HB4260] to the abortion issue shows a lack of basic understanding of human biology.”
Tinderholt went on to suggest that Farrar take a high school biology class.
Farrar isn’t the only state-level Democrat using satire to fight back against abortion restrictions introduced by Republican legislatures. In 2016, a Kentucky state lawmaker introduced a bill that would require men to swear on a Bible that they are married and have at least two office visits before a doctor could prescribe erectile dysfunction medication.