Mickey Dollens, a politician from the Democrats in Oklahoma, has suggested politicians who have pushed for the banning of abortion should also support reversible male vasectomies for young men.
“If you really want to end abortion then 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,” Dollens said in the Republican-led state legislature.
“If you think that’s crazy, then I think that maybe you understand how 50% of Oklahomans feel, as well.”
Oklahoma has just passed what is considered the most restrictive abortion law in modern history in the United States, banning all abortions from fertilisation (with exception in cases of rape or incest but only when the victim has filed a police report), and allowing private citizens to enforce the law, and punish those who pay for it.
Dollens, who strongly opposes the new laws, later told MSNBC his idea of enforcing reversible vasectomies for young men to prevent unwanted pregnancies was a “tongue in cheek” suggestion, designed to call out the hypocrisy of the Republicans who supposedly champion personal freedom.
“The GOP has a super majority in Oklahoma and their policies continue to get more and more extreme. The party of so-called limited government and personal freedom has become the party of intrusion,” Dollens said.
“To fight fire with fire as they say, I proposed a tongue in cheek proposal to mandate vasectomies to just prove a point of how absurd and ridiculous it is to regulate one’s bodily autonomy. I don’t believe that government should regulate anyone’s reproductive system.”
Dollens said there was no data to back up that this law is what the majority of Oklahomans want.
“There is a carve out for rape and incest, only if the victim has a police report. It allows people to tell on others, present their own law suits. It’s really draconian and we’re really only one of three states that has done this,” he said.
United States Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has also spoken on Oklahoma’s abortion law.
“Today’s action by the Oklahoma legislature is the most extreme effort to undo these fundamental rights we have seen to date,” said Jean-Pierre. “In addition, it adopts Texas’ absurd plan to allow private citizens to sue their neighbors for providing reproductive health care and helping women to exercise their constitutional rights.”