A female Ohio lawmaker has introduced legislation that would introduce new hurdles for men who want Viagra: proof that they have sought sex therapy, and a sexual partner’s notarized statement verifying their impotency.
“I’m just as serious as the men policymakers across the nation who introduced bills to regulate a woman’s reproductive health,” Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing on Tuesday.
“For far too long, elected officials, especially women, have advocated our responsibility to show men as much love in the reproductive health arena as they have shown us over the years,” Turner said. “So my Senate Bill 307 is all about the love, and making sure we look out for men’s sexual health.”
The proposed law, which would apply to all prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs, came in response to the “Heartbeat Bill” introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives by Republican Lynn Wachtmann. That bill would ban abortion once a heartbeat is detected — as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
“I understand some women think my bill is a personal affront,” said Wachtmann. “Protecting the unborn — to compare this to Viagra — [it] is not even related.”
In addition to an impotency affidavit from a patient’s sexual partner, Turner’s bill requires Viagra-seekers to undergo a cardiac stress test in order to “indicate that the patient’s cardiac health is compatible with sexual activity.”
Once they get their Viagra, men would have to undergo follow-up stress tests every 90 days and attend three outpatient counseling sessions “within a period of not less than six months.”
Should the bill become law, doctors would also have to refer patients to a sex therapist before prescribing erectile dysfunction drugs — “for an assessment of the possible causes of the patient’s symptoms of erectile dysfunction.”
Physicians would also be required to keep the prescription records in a patient’s file. They would be obligated to tell patients about the risks involved with taking the drugs, and require the men to sign a document stating that they understand those risks.
Those requirements parallel similar restrictions in the Heartbeat Bill.
Christopher Conover, a researcher at Duke University’s Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, believes the bill will not be taken seriously.
“It is political theater, but theater is exactly what any sensible person should have expected when formerly private decisions got tossed into the political arena,” Conover told TheDC.
“Congress is the last group most Americans would want making decisions over their personal and private health care.”
While the bill may be a stretch — or even a political stunt — Turner says she’s hoping to inspire similar bills in other states.
“We have to make sure we guide men to make the right decisions that maybe these drugs may not be the best decision for them to make,” she said, in language seemingly calculated to mirror justifications for the Heartbeat Bill.
“Celibacy is always an option, or natural remedies,” she continued, straight-faced. “This is about setting and leveling the playing field. Women should not need a permission slip from the government to take care of their own reproductive health.”
Turner declined to speak with The Daily Caller about the bill and her reasons for introducing it.
The Ohio legislature is comprised mostly of Republican men — a sign that the bill is not likely to be on anyone’s fast-track calendar.
Turner is the third female state lawmaker to introduce a bill making it more difficult for men to obtain Viagra. The other two were also reactions to what Democrats saw as Republican attacks on abortion rights.
In January, Virginia state Sen. Janet Howell introduced an amendment to a controversial legislative initiative requiring women seeking abortions to first undergo a transvaginal ultrasound. The amendment, which ultimately failed, required men seeking Viagra to first have a rectal exam.
Similarly, Illinois state Rep. Kelly Cassidy introduced an amendment this month mandating that men seeking Viagra would have to watch a graphic video about the drug’s potential side effects.
“If they are serious about us not being able to make our own health care decisions, then I’m just as serious about them not being able to make theirs,” Cassidy told Yahoo News.