State Pols Outraged by Anti-Abortion Laws Push Onerous Restrictions on Viagra
by Allison Yarrow
The Daily Beast
March 14, 2012
Want to use the popular potency drug? First undergo a rectal exam, celibacy lecture, and waiting period. How fed-up female state legislators””and at least one male””are pushing bills to retaliate against the male-led, restrictions-laden drive to limit women”s rights to abortion and birth control.
In the fierce public debate about contraception and abortion, revenge legislation is the new attack weapon. Women pols are using their posts to wage war on bills and laws that work to govern women”s wombs. And they”re not denying the obvious humor involved in what they”ve proposed. Monty Python is even a touchstone.
To give men a taste of how invasive and prodding government oversight into women”s sex lives has become, a number of state politicians sporting two X chromosomes have championed bills that mandate a pesky list of prerequisites for men who want Viagra pills. These include celibacy lectures, rectal exams, affidavits from former lovers swearing impotence problems, and forced viewing of a video pimping the medicine”s side effects. Acquiring the goods to get hard could be incredibly difficult. It’s tough enough reading that list of regulations with a straight face.
“We”re talking about it, that”s a start,” said Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, who in the last 24 hours has been anointed the latest liberal media darling for introducing her version of a Viagra bill. The senator wants to “protect” Ohio’s men “from the risks of PDE-5 inhibitors, drugs commonly used to treat symptoms of impotence.” Turner is retaliating against her state’s cadre of male pols who push what are essentially abortion and contraception bans. They have, her press release suggests, been so protective of women”s insides that reciprocation is only fair.
“If you want to be preoccupied with regulating women”s wombs, we”re going to do the same thing with men,” she challenged.
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