Fed up with some recently proposed anti-abortion bills in her state, Texas representative Jessica Farrar decided to fight back — by proposing that we turn that viral Hillary Clinton meme into a reality. According to the Texas Tribune, Farrar has proposed a bill that would fine men $100 (£82) for masturbating.
Farrar's bill, titled the "Man’s Right To Know Act," would also require that men read a booklet with medical information about the benefits and concerns that a man might have while seeking a vasectomy, a Viagra prescription, or a colonoscopy. It'd also allow doctors to cite their "personal, moralistic, or religious beliefs" to refuse to perform a vasectomy or prescribe Viagra.
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If that sounds familiar, it's because Farrar wanted to write a satirical bill that exposes the flawed arguments often employed for bills that regulate women's abortion rights. In particular, she has fought against a bill that required a 24-hour waiting period for a woman seeking an abortion as well as one that required women to listen to the foetal heartbeat before getting an abortion — a process that Farrar told the Texas Tribune "messes with women's heads."
The Man's Right To Know Act, or HB 4260, also calls for a 24-hour waiting period for men seeking vasectomies.
As for the bill's masturbation fine, Farrar told Texas Tribune that if a man's sperm was not used to create pregnancy, "then it’s a waste… because that semen can be used — and is to be used — for creating more human life."
"Men have to answer for their actions and so forth," she continued. "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 knows that her satirical bill wouldn't become a law, but she wanted to prove a point about the unnecessary and extreme restrictions placed on abortion.
"What I would like to see is this make people stop and think," Farrar told Texas Tribune. "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."
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