The proposal aims “to show the absurdity when a woman tries to regulate a man’s body” as anti-choice legislation regulates women’s bodies.
In a direct rebuke to laws designed to take away a woman’s right to control her own body, Democratic Georgia state Representative Dar’shun Kendrick has proposed new “Testicular Bill of Rights” legislation that would, among other things, require men to get permission from their sexual partners before obtaining erectile dysfunction medication and institute a 24-hour “waiting period” for men who want to buy porn or sex toys.
The legislative proposal comes in response to HB 481, a so-called “heartbeat bill” passed by Republicans in the Georgia House that would effectively ban abortion in the state. Specifically, it would outlaw the procedure after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around six weeks—before most people know they are pregnant.
In a tweet on March 11, Kendrick shared an email she wrote to her staff that outlines key elements of the legislation, which would also make men having sex without a condom an “aggravated assault” crime and force men to immediately start paying child support to their partners after six weeks and one day of pregnancy.
The tweet included an image of an email outlining her five-point plan:
- Require men to get permission from their sex partner before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.
- Ban vasectomy procedures in Georgia and penalize doctors who perform them.
- Make having sex without a condom an “aggravated assault” crime for men.
- Require men to begin paying child support when the woman is six weeks and one day pregnant per a paternity test required at the same time.
- Create a 24-hour “waiting period” for men who wish to purchase porn or sex toys in the state of Georgia.
“So why did I post about drafting my ‘testicular bill of rights’? It’s simple,'” Kendrick wrote in an op-ed. “To show the absurdity when a woman tries to regulate a man’s body like HB 481 and other anti-choice bills are doing in regulating women’s bodies.”
Her message resonated with Georgia voters and reproductive rights advocates who celebrated her proposal as “incredible.”
Georgia law currently allows abortions up to 20 weeks. HB 481, which Kendrick calls the “Women’s Womb Takeover” bill, passed the Georgia House 93-73. If it is approved by the Senate before the legislative session ends in April, as is expected, it will head to the desk of Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who has vowed to sign it.
Kendrick, in her interview with Rolling Stone, emphasized that Georgia’s heartbeat bill is part of a nationwide ploy by anti-choice Republican state lawmakers to force the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its landmark 1973 ruling that protects a woman’s right to have an abortion up to the point of fetal viability.
“It’s unconstitutional on purpose: this is a test case. It is a case to test Roe v. Wade,” Kendrick said. “They’re hoping that it gets up to the Court of Appeals — the Eleventh Circuit is one of the most conservative court circuits that we have, and they’re hopeful that they will uphold part of it, and then they’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court.”
Jessica Corbett
