As Republican legislators across the country propose bill after bill limiting women's access to contraception, abortion, and related healthcare benefits, Democratic female lawmakers are fighting back in full force and their ammo is - yes, Viagra. The latest entry in this battle of the bills comes from Ohio state senator Nina Turner, who has introduced a bill that would require men seeking Viagra to see a sex therapist, take a cardiac stress test, and present a notarized affadavit from a sex partner confirming their impotence.
All this just comes from Turner's deep concern for men's well-being. There's been enough attention on wombs lately: "We should show the same attention and love to men's reproductive health as we do to women's," Turner told the Huffington Post. "And my bill does that."
She denies charges that she's making light of the situation or simply trying to make a point by proposing something extreme. "I'm just as serious as a heart attack," Turner said, no doubt making a sideways reference to Viagra's potential cardiac side effects.
"I'm serious about the potential side effects of Viagra.... It's ironic that when it come to women's health people think that's a serious matter, but when it comes to a man, they think we're joking."
So far, a Viagra bill has yet to make it past a legislature. But I think there should be some conflict of interest disclosure on the lawmakers' part. It would be interesting to know how many of those Republican men are Viagra users...
