Democrat Janet Howell of Fairfax County, Virginia, has proposed a bill requiring all men to get rectal exams and cardiac stress tests prior to receiving prescription erectile dysfunction medications. Howell proposed the bill, calling it “a matter of basic fairness,†after Republican lawmakers pushed through (possibly unconstitutional) bill requiring women receive and pay for an ultrasound before being allowed to have an abortion. Abortion-restriction bills have been proposed and passed in a great many Republican-controlled state legislatures across the nation over the past year as part of a broader GOP plan to attack women’s rights.
Howell’s bill was voted down, 21-19, Monday.
Via The Roanoke Times:
Senate Bill 484 would require a pregnant woman to undergo ultrasound imaging to determine the gestation age of the fetus, and be given an opportunity to view the ultrasound image, before having an abortion. The proposed law also requires the abortion provider to keep a printed copy of the ultrasound image in the patient’s file.
The bill cleared the Senate Education and Health Committee on a party-line vote last week, with the panel’s GOP majority providing the votes to get the measure to the floor. Abortion opponents have fought for the legislation. Abortion rights advocates argue that the ultrasound requirement would subject women to unnecessary procedures and limit the discretion of doctors.
Howell said she left last week’s committee meeting feeling “quiet distressed and angry†about the bill.
“It’s requiring them to have unnecessary medical procedures, it’s adding to the cost and it’s opening them up for emotional blackmail,†she said on the Senate floor today. “And I was upset because it’s disrespectful of doctors. It’s forcing them to perform procedures they don’t think is necessary.â€
She said she was watching television in her hotel room that evening and saw an ad for an erectile dysfunction drug that included a recitation of “all the serious things that could happen to a man who was going to take this medication.†So she decided government should get involved, she said.
“So, I said, it’s only fair, that if we’re going to subject women to unnecessary procedures, and we’re going to subject doctors to having to do things that they don’t think is medically advisory, well, Mr. President, I think we should just have a little gender equity here,†Howell said, explaining her amendment.