Jessica Farrar, a Democrat at the Texas’ House of Representatives, presented this Monday a new bill called “Man’s Right To Know Act.” This legislation would force authorities to fine with $100 each time a male citizen of the state masturbates and gets caught. The bill also imposes a waiting period of a whole day before a vasectomy procedure, a colonoscopy or receiving a medical prescription for Viagra.
The only way a man could masturbate and not be forced to pay the fine would be with the permission of a sanctioned session in a local clinic or hospital and for medical reasons. The intention of the law is to highlight the alleged unfairness regarding the current local legislation for abortion procedures, and how women are being affected by these, according to Farrar.
To many, this bill could be qualified as absurd. Farrar herself has said that she is not seeking to get this law approved, as her objective is to raise awareness regarding the double standards present in the state’s current legislation system. She said that this bill is a taste of their own medicine for male lawmakers as she explained that this proposal only mirrors some of Texas’ bills approved in the past, only that now is the other gender who is getting affected by it
What the bill could mean to Texans
Among the specifications of the law, there is the fact that any male cannot ejaculate outside a vagina or a medical facility since this action would require an immediate fine. The ironic explanation is that masturbation is an “act against an unborn child, and fails to preserve the sanctity of life,” the bill reads.
In an interview Ms. Farrar gave to a local news station, she said that for many people the presentation of the “Man’s Right To Know Act” may seem funny. However, she warned that the judicial abuses done to women in the state of Texas are not funny in any sense. Farrar exposed that the process to get accurate healthcare when a woman is undergoing an abortion is full of obstacles thanks to the current legislation.
A funny law, a serious problem
According to several civil groups, Texas is one of the toughest states to get medical attention for women going through an abortion. Representative Farrar has been a long-time advocate for the rights the Texans women deserve regarding healthcare services in the state.
For Farrar, there is a marked double standard that is affecting female citizens greatly, as sexist lawmakers have been shaping Texas’ legislation for many years now. Farrar has blamed the state’s Christian heritage as the principal responsible for the conservative laws and the restrictive abortion culture present in Texas.
In an interview with CNN this Monday, she wondered “what Texas has done to women,” and rhetorically asked, “what if men had to undergo the same intrusive procedures?” According to the existing laws, any women that has past the 20-week mark cannot ask for an abortion unless the patient’s life is in danger.
In a survey conducted three years ago, almost 97 percent of Texas’s counties did not have the presence of clinics that offered abortion procedures to the public. Living in those counties, and according to the Guttmacher Institute, there was an added Texan female population of 43 percent.
“It got me thinking, maybe what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” Ms. Farrar told the BBC in an exclusive interview this Monday. “If we are taking these measures because of the sanctity of life, well, we just cannot waste any seed. We have real lives to deal with.”
Republican’s response
Both Republican politicians and average citizens have criticized Ms. Farrar’s initiative considerably in the last days. Republican Tony Tinderholt has been one of the most notorious figures to speak out about this issue. This Representative introduced a bill called “The abolition of abortion in the state of Texas,” that wanted to forbid the process in any point of the state, no matter the pregnancy condition.
“I’m embarrassed for Representative Farrar. Her attempt to compare to the abortion issue shows a lack of a basic understanding of human biology,” said Rep. Tony Tinderholt in a statement. “I would recommend that she consider taking a high school biology class from a local public or charter school before filing another bill on the matter.”