Taking a page from Legally Blonde—where Elle finally shows she’s earned her place at Harvard Law by making the case during class that “any masturbatory emissions, where the sperm is clearly not seeking an egg, could be termed reckless abandonment”—a satirical bill filed in Texas on Friday aims to make a statement about women’s reproductive rights.
House Bill 4260, titled “Man’s Right to Know Act,” would require men to pay $100 fee for masturbating each time; require someone seeking a vasectomy, Viagra prescription, or colonoscopy to receive an informational booklet (complete with artistic illustration of each procedure), undergo a digital rectal exam and rectal sonogram and wait 24 hours to get the prescription or procedure; and allow health professionals the right to withhold treatment based on “personal, moralistic, or religious beliefs.”
The bill intentionally draws from anti-abortion laws in Texas, including legislation mandating a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking an abortion and the requirement that during their initial consultation, women receive an error-filled booklet about the risks associated with the procedure.
The bill was filed by state Rep. Jessica Farrar, who admitted she knows her “proposed satirical regulations” have little chance at becoming law. “What I would like to see is this make people stop and think,” Farrar told The Texas Tribune. “Maybe my colleagues aren’t capable of that, but the people who voted for them, or the people that didn’t vote at all, I hope that it changes their mind and helps them to decide what the priorities are.”
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