As a man, I have to deal with a lot of things that women just don’t understand. I’m taller on average, making it more difficult to sit in airline seats, I have to shave my face for job interviews, which sometimes results in inconvenient cuts on my face and I have to stand up when I pee, which can make your legs really tired if you’ve already been standing for awhile.
With these life constraints in mind, I can’t tell you how horrified I was by an amendment introduced by Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, and Rep. Naomi Gonzalez, D-El Paso, to House Bill 15, better known as the sonogram bill. The sonogram bill, introduced by Rep. Sid Miller, R–Stephenville, requires a woman seeking an abortion to have a sonogram at least 24 hours in prior to the procedure. The medical professional would show the woman live images of the fetus, provide an explanation of the images, such as which limbs have formed, and play audio of the heartbeat.
While discussing the bill in the house, Marquez and Gonzalez put forth an amendment that would allow a woman who decided against an abortion following information divulged to her from the sonogram to seek a court order mandating a vasectomy on the unmarried man who got her pregnant if he previously fathered at least two children with different women out of wedlock.
The amendment was eventually tabled, but I still can’t get over the insidious nature of it. How on earth are two female legislators in a position to dictate what I do with my body? What is this state coming to? I mean, I would recommend that Marquez and Gonzalez try having a vasectomy performed on themselves before putting forth such an amendment so that they may have some idea of what a traumatizing and invasive procedure it is. But I can’t do that because they’re women, and they have no way of knowing the true nature of the procedure which they felt certain men should be required to undergo by state law.
“If you do believe that government should be making medical mandates, then we ought to have this amendment and divide responsibility evenly,” Marquez said in regard to the amendment. “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Last time I checked, this is America, and by all indications I have full control over my goose and my gander, and no liberal lawmaker has the right to tell me what I should do with my body.
What it comes down to is a question of liberty. When a man has sex, he is literally killing millions and millions of sperm in the process, but it is his right to do such based on American law, and his personal decision about what he does with his body should have no governmental repercussions.
I can hardly believe the gall these lawmakers have in proposing a bill that requires a gender that already goes through such physical hardships to undergo a vasectomy. What’s even more troubling is that it appears the amendment was based on nothing more than a personal ideology that they hold which they are trying to mandate as law.
The Legislature has a lot of pressing issues to be dealing with this session. With elementary schools, universities and retirement homes in desperate need of attention, the last place they should be concerned with is my bedroom.
What’s next, telling me the Bible isn’t a government document?
