Ohio State Senator Wants a Vote on Viagra

Posted on Mar 6, 2012

Flickr / Felixe (CC-BY-SA)

Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner is flipping the script on the contraception debate that’s become the top issue for culture war enthusiasts by proposing a bill that would oblige men to go through similar kinds of preliminary steps to get Viagra prescriptions or vasectomies as women will for their reproductive health needs if another bit of legislation becomes law.  —KA

Talking Points Memo:

Turner’s bill mimics language found in Ohio’s so-called Heartbeat Bill, which passed the Ohio state House and is now pending in the Senate. The bill would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, sometimes as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. Turner’s bill, she says, offers men a taste of their own medicine — it would require physicians to inform patients in writing of the risks involved in taking erectile dysfunction drugs and requires men to sign a document acknowledging the risks, just like the anti-abortion bill does.

“I care about the health of men as well, and I thought it only fair that we illustrate that and make sure that a man is fully informed of the risks involved in taking these drugs and also the alternatives such as natural remedies or also celibacy,” Turner said.

Women legislators in other states have been making similar efforts.

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