Kentucky Bill Would Require Wife’s Permission Before Man Can Get Viagra

A Democratic state lawmaker in Kentucky last week introduced a bill that would require men to meet with their doctor twice and obtain permission from their wives before obtaining a prescription for a drug for erectile dysfunction. The bill is designed as a critique to the restrictions on abortion access passed by the state.

Rep. Mary Lou Marzian (pictured above), the lawmaker who introduced the bill, told Louisville paper The Courier-Journal in an interview published on Monday that she wants to protect men and make sure they understand the side effects of drugs like viagra.

“I want to protect these men from themselves,” she said.

The bill, in addition to requiring two office visits and written permission from a man’s wife, directs doctors to “prescribe a drug for erectile dysfunction only to a man who is currently married.” The legislation also requires “a man to 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.”

Marzian told The Courier-Journal that she introduced the bill in response to the passage of a bill that requires women to get counseling 24 hours in advance of obtaining an abortion. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Matt Bevin (R) earlier in February.

She said that she proposed the legislation to protest a largely male General Assembly writing legislation about women’s health issues.

“Do we really want a bunch or [sic] legislators interfering in private, personal, medical decisions?” she said, according to the Courier-Journal.

Marzian told Louisville television station WDRB that she proposed the bill to “have government insert itself into the personal, private decisions of men — since we have already inserted it into our personal, private decisions of women.”

“Maybe it will wake some people up in this state to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, where are they going with seven abortion bills?'” she told WDRB.