In Oklahoma, one Democratic State legislator suggested that all men should be forced to get mandatory vasectomies, seemingly in response to a different bill that bans abortion from the exact moment of conception.
As part of a meeting that took place on Friday of the Oklahoma state legislature, Democratic Rep. Mickey Dollens put forth the idea that the people of this legislature who stood in support of the abortion law, also known as House Bill 4327, should stand to consider yet another bill that he planned to sponsor which would make it a legal mandate that all young men across the state be forced to undergo a vasectomy once they reach their puberty that could only be officially reversed once they are “deemed financially and emotionally responsible.”
The lawmaker first tabled the idea via a Twitter post on Thursday as part of a thread that was criticizing HB 4327. “One of my fellow legislators plans to introduce a bill, HB 4327, that would define life as the moment of fertilization, making it a homicide to abort even a small cluster of cells,” stated Dollens. “What if we take it further and mandate that every male has to have a vasectomy until they are deemed financially and emotionally responsible? Or call the use of condoms premeditated murder? Using a personal interpretation of religion to legislate human bodies is wrong and leads us down a dangerous path.”
Dollens once again dredged up the idea as part of a debate on Friday about HB 4327, “I would invite you to co-author a bill that I’m considering next year that would mandate that each male when they reach puberty get a mandatory vasectomy that’s only reversible when they reach the point of financial and emotional stability,” he stated to his colleagues. “If you think that’s crazy, then I think that maybe you understand how 50 percent of Oklahomans feel as well.”
Dollens also chose to attack Republicans for not following the Democratic list of priorities. “There are plenty of actual solutions that can make a difference in reducing unwanted pregnancies,” he stated. “Birth control, family planning, sex education, livable wage. But no. Each year, the past six years I’ve been here, and for years and years before that, they have gone unaddressed.” Additionally, Dollens threw accusations at Republicans of the legislature for what they claimed to be trying to score political points.
The Oklahoma State Legislature officially passed HB 4327 this past Thursday. The bill managed to glide through with a vote of 73-16 in the wake of being approved by the state Senate back in April. It totally outlaws all abortions from the exact moment of conception, which it marks as “the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum.” It also includes quite limited exceptions that only allow abortion in the case of saving the life of the mother “in a medical emergency” or if the pregnancy was caused as a result of “rape, sexual assault, or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.” The bill also issues a definition for an unborn child as “a human fetus or embryo in any stage of gestation from fertilization until birth.”