The author herself doesn't expect it to pass but a South Carolina lawmaker filed a bill requiring men who want to get Viagra and other drugs that help them have sex to wait 24 hours and get a sworn statement from their partners detailing their problems.
Rep. Mia McLeod, reported CBS News, said that the bill is meant as a tongue-in-cheek response to rules placed on abortion by the male-dominated South Carolina legislature. She says that having the bill taken up at the committee level will bring attention to the issue.
In adition to the 24-hour wait and the sworn statement the bill also required couselling to encourage men to pursue life-long celibacy as a lifestyle choice. "Government has no place making a decision for people when it comes to abortion - or erectile dysfunction," said McLeod, during the legislative session.
McLeod's original version of the bill pre-filed last December was even harsher, requiring users to undergo a psychological evaluation prior to the prescription and a cardiac stress test every 90 days while they are on it.
According to rt.com, the bill was passed unanimously by the House medical sub-committeee on Wednesday, with a provision exempting men who have undergone treatment for prostate cancer. McLeod says the real intention of the bill is to highlight the inappropriate ways government dictate what to do with people's bodies and the double standards on how men and women's reproductive rights and sexual health are being treated.
McLeod said she is sick and tired of legislators introducing all sorts of abortion bills, Medical Daily reported. She was also spurred by the endless parade of legislative investigations into reproductive health provider Planned Parenthood following a series of sting videos which have since been debunked last summer.
McLeod is just one of many legislators who have made stinging rebuttals to restrictive abortion bills. Democratic lawmakers in Ohio and Tennessee have filed similar "Viagra" bills and in 2012 Virginia Senator Janet Howell filed an amendment to a proposed anti-abortion bill. It required men seeking Viagra to go through a cardiac arrest test and a digital rectal exam. The latter was an obvious dig on various attempts to force women seeking abortion to undergo transvaginal ultrasound before the procedure.
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