Things are getting weird at the Texas Capital again.

Texas State Representative Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, District 148 - CC0 1.0 Universal
Texas State Representative Jessica Farrar, D-Houston, District 148 - CC0 1.0 Universal
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A Texas lawmaker is taking a novel approach to the touchy subject of abortion by proposing a mock bill that would penalize men for "unregulated emissions".

The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that Houston Democrat Jessica Farrar's satirical House Bill 4260 (the "Man's Right to Know Act") is the product of her frustration with bills introduced by men to address women's healthcare.

The full text of the bill is available on the State of Texas Legislative Website. The bill would "promote fully-abstinent sexual relations or occasional masturbatory emissions inside health care and medical facilities, as a means of the healthiest way to ensure men's health". A $100 fine would be issued to any man "emitting" outside of those bounds.

The Department of State Health Services would be required to create and distribute pamphlets titled "A Man's Right to Know" and ensure that physicians verbally review them with male patients.

Additionally, an attending physician would be required to "administer a medically-unnecessary digital rectal exam and magnetic resonance imagining of the rectum before administering an elective vasectomy or colonoscopy procedure, or prescribing Viagra."

The Dallas Morning News reports that Farrar's bill mocks a law passed in 2011 that requires physicians performing abortions to provide a detailed description of the fetus to their patient, as well as review a booklet titled "A Woman's Right to Know" 24 hours before the procedure,. Critics claim the booklet contains refuted information linking an increased risk for breast cancer to abortion.

Farrar says the bill may seem funny to some, but she's attempting to make a serious statement about strict abortion requirements - specifically, the required ultrasound and fetal description.

"It's to show how invasive this medically unnecessary procedure is," Farrar told the Chronicle. "When a woman has to have a trans-vaginal ultrasound, it has nothing to do with her healthcare. One of the state's objectives is to guilt her into changing her mind."

Recently, Texas Senate Bill 25 (dubbed the "wrongful birth" bill) has come under fire as well. As reported by the Washington Post, the bill would prevent patients from suing physicians if their child is born with a disability, which critics claim gives doctors reason not to conduct prenatal tests or fully inform women of the test results. According to the Post, the bill's author, Republican State Senator Brandon Crieghton, wished to protect doctors from being penalized for "embracing the sanctity of life".

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