February 16, 2016

This Kentucky Lawmaker Wants to Make Men Get Their Spouses’ Permission for Viagra

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Hoping to flip the script on a series of anti-abortion laws in her home state, a Kentucky lawmaker is proposing a bill that would mandate that men who were seeking Viagra must receive their spouses’ permission before getting the drug.

“I thought if we’re going to insert ourselves into women’s most private health care decisions, then we should insert ourselves into men’s most private health care decisions, as well,” Rep. Mary Lou Marzian (D) told the Times.

The proposal would require men to have two doctors visits and a signed note from their spouse before they can score a prescription of the blue pill.

Marzian’s bill is in response to several anti-abortion laws recently enacted in Kentucky, including a measure that requires women to have a medical consultation 24 hours before getting an abortion. It was the very first piece of legislation Gov. Matt Bevin signed into law in February as a newly elected governor. Another measure, which is likely to pass soon, will force women seeking abortions to undergo an ultrasound and listen to a doctor’s description of the image. According to the Courier-Journal, the bill would not make women look at the image.

Marzian’s bill hopes to highlight the intrusiveness of such laws. It also comes in the tradition of similarly tongue-and-cheek proposals that were inspired by Republican laws that intended to curtail reproductive rights. In 2012, one Illinois lawmaker introduced a bill to mandate that men seeking Viagra watch a video detailing some of the possible side effects of the drug, like priapism, the prolonged erection of a penis.

“As a woman and a pro-choice woman and as an elected official, I am sick and tired of men—mostly white men—legislating personal, private medical decision,” Marzian told CNN. “It’s none of their business.”

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