Some legislators are trying to point out just how absurd is the intrusive “uterus-related legislation” that’s being pushed by Republicans all over the U.S. And their method, which is as entertaining as it is revelatory, is to propose laws that have to do with invasive procedures for men. One of the best examples of this is an amendment proposed by a senator in Virginia that would have required “rectal exams and cardiac stress tests for men seeking erectile dysfunction meds.” Shame it didn’t pass, though it came darn close.

Mother Jones does a great job of compiling some of the more “insane” laws that are popping up in various states, some of which have actually passed.

Georgia: Responding to a Georgia house bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, Rep. Yasmin Neal wrote a bill outlawing most vasectomies because they leave “thousands of children…deprived of birth.”

Texas: Contesting a bill mandating sonograms before abortions, Rep. Harold Dutton unsuccessfully offered three amendments in a row. The first would have required the state to pay the college tuition of children born to women who decide against an abortion after seeing a required ultrasound image. The second would have subsidized the children’s health care costs until age 18. When that failed, he lowered the age to 6. That didn’t fly, either…

Delaware: By an 8 to 4 vote, the Wilmington, Delaware, city council recognized the personhood of semen because “each ‘egg person’ and each ‘sperm person’ should be deemed equal in the eyes of the government.”

Read more

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata

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