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Texas Lawmaker Turns The Tables On Men, Proposes A Fine On Masturbating

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Texas, the US state currently on the hot seat due to its tight abortion-control laws, is yet again making headlines on the issue. But this time, the issue has been turned on its head: a female lawmaker is targeting men by drafting a law that would require men to pay a fine each time they masturbate.

Jessica Farrar, a Democratic representative, submitted House Bill number 4260 that aims to protect unborn children by mandating that “emissions outside of a woman’s vagina, or created outside of a health or medical facility” carry a $100 fine, the BBC reports. Each time a man makes such an emission, it would “be considered an act against an unborn child.”

Farrar is only half-kidding, knowing the bill will most likely never make it as a law. But she argues that her proposal is no worse than the restrictions Texas has put on women when it comes to choosing to end a pregnancy. The last straw, she says, was the latest bill that wanted to force women to either bury or cremate the remains of a miscarriage or abortion.

It got me thinking, maybe what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,

Farrar says. “If we are taking these measures because of the sanctity of life, well, we just cannot waste any seed.”

The Supreme Court overturned a ban on drug-induced abortions after seven weeks, but Texas remains strict on its abortion laws. There were only 19 abortion clinics in the entire state as of 2016, the Texas Tribune says, the majority of which were in urban areas. This means 95% of counties in one of the country’s largest states have no access to such a facility.

Farrar is also angry about how women are manipulated into choosing not to end their pregnancy: they are forced to listen to lectures on morality, look at images of fetuses, undergo intrusive vaginal ultrasounds to hear the heartbeat, and get warnings on breast cancer, which is an unproven claim.

“As if every woman has not thought about this [abortion]. The fact is, only she knows what has happened in her life,” Farrar says, adding that there should be a male equivalent for each step of the abortion process, like a “digital rectal exam.”

She states that Texas has more pressing matters that need attention, such as high maternity mortality rates. “I think the reason we are where we are is because people have tolerated these things. I’m hoping my bill will wake people up.”

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