Permission From Men’s Wives To Take Viagra Might Be A Joke, But Abortion Is Not

There’s a popular article gaining steam online, called “Want Viagra? Not without a note from wife” — written by Deborah Yetter, published more than one year ago by the Courier-Journal. With more than 30,000 shares and 300 comments, the piece has gotten so much attention because it pointed to a real proposed bill — House Bill 396 — that would require men in Kentucky to go to their doctors two times and get a note from their wives in order to get their Viagra prescription or other erectile dysfunction drugs scripted.

The article points to the bill proposed by Rep. Mary Lou Marzian, a Democrat out of Louisville, who is a nurse that quipped she wanted to protect the men from themselves by teaching them the dangers of taking Viagra without the knowledge of their wives. The whole “family values” notion of the bill suggests that married men who want Viagra must turn to their wives — as if the married women are the purveyors of the little blue pills — in order to get a note like from their mothers granting permission for their husbands to use the ED drugs.

“A man [must] make a sworn statement with his hand on a Bible that he will only use a prescription for a drug for erectile dysfunction when having sexual relations with his current spouse.”

Now — anyone who has seen a recent episode of Billions knows just how popular Viagra is to boost the mental and physical confidence of a man. And anyone with access to Google knows that plenty of Viagra intake is used via the secret stash that some married men hide from their wives, as reported by the Boston Globe, to use with women other than said wives.

However, House Bill 396 was being touted as a “tongue-in-cheek” clap-back at anti-abortion measures like Senate Bill 4, which said a woman wanting an abortion should get counseling 24 hours prior to the procedure. Marzian’s goal was to protest a largely male General Assembly from inserting their beliefs into the issues of women’s health.

Whereas Marzian’s plans to file another bill regarding gun buyers also undergoing 24 hours of advance stipulations, it’s the Viagra bill that got all the attention.

https://twitter.com/nadabakos/status/832987556799201280

The hubbub over the Viagra bill even forced Snopes to report that the Kentucky legislature was actually a real bill proposal. The sarcastic bill created by Marzian, an abortion rights supporter, was gaining praise from some people on social media — as news about the bill went viral one year after its proposal.

If you think you get to regulate my lady parts, then I get to regulate your Viagra, because fair.

[drops mic] pic.twitter.com/22JpPoeW3R

— beth (@bourgeoisalien) February 18, 2017

However, although the bill was praised as a serious bill that displayed a joking way to strike back at those trying to interfere in the health of a woman, the “safe, legal procedure” of abortion isn’t always coupled with talk of the rights of the woman growing in the womb. Pouring over pregnancy calendars that speak of brain growth, wiggling limbs at eight weeks in utero — as reported by What to Expect — central nervous system growth and other pain receptors are generally never coupled with talk about women making moral decisions, at least the women outside the womb fighting for reproductive rights.

The Viagra-based HB 396 did not pass, apparently, but only went viral one year later, renewing a debate about Viagra-rights versus abortion-rights in a way that some did not find mic-dropping, but distasteful. And perhaps those of us who’ve made such choices over and over again, and suffered the emotions of abortion’s aftermath — which is being shown on TV in bold new ways, as reported by The Ringer — wonder about the future fate of the procedure.

As seen in the top photo above, counterfeit Viagra pills on the top and bottom left of the photo are placed next to real Viagra pills.

[Featured Image by Elise Amendola/AP Images]