New rules for getting Viagra and bans on aborting fetuses with Down syndrome are among some of the creative new abortion laws states are considering for 2016.
In the past few years, states have passed record numbers of abortion restrictions, which often create new rules for clinics and doctors or put limits on when or how a woman can obtain an abortion.
States passed more than 50 such laws in 2015, handing a big victory to abortion opponents and frustrating supporters of abortion rights who view the new regulations as attempts to roll back access to the procedure.
More states will be gearing up after New Year’s Day to introduce a batch of new abortion-related measures during the spring legislative season. In some of the states, the legislation will become law. In other states, lawmakers will push bills more intended to simply to make a point. Here are some of the more creative bills in the pipeline:
Abortion based on Down syndrome
A measure introduced by Missouri Sen. David Sater would make it illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion if a woman is seeking it solely because the fetus is thought to have Down syndrome.
After a doctor performed the procedure, he or she would have to certify they had no knowledge that the woman sought the abortion because her fetus was diagnosed with the genetic disorder that causes developmental and intellectual delays.
North Dakota is the only state with a similar measure on the books, one that bans abortions if the reason is a genetic abnormality including Down syndrome.
Sater, a Republican, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he is introducing the bill because babies with Down syndrome “deserve life and shouldn’t be discriminated against.” “Most grow up to be fine citizens and they’re loved and I think it’s inhumane to abort someone just because they’re a little different.”
Burying fetal remains
A pending bill in Ohio would require women who undergo abortions at clinics or experience miscarriages at hospitals to sign a form designating burial or cremation of the fetal remains.
A group of Republicans introduced the legislation after the state’s attorney general said he found that some Planned Parenthood clinics in the state were improperly disposing of fetal remains in landfills. The lawmakers say they want the state to require that fetal remains are treated in a respectful way.
The facilities where the abortions or miscarriages are carried out would be responsible for covering the costs of disposing of the remains, but the lawmakers are still working out other details, such as whether there would be specific cemeteries for the bodies or specific places where the remains could be spread.
Accessing Viagra
A Democrat in South Carolina recently introduced a bill to make her point about new abortion restrictions the state has passed in recent years. State Rep. Mia McLeod wants to require men to go through the same process for getting Viagra as woman have to go through to obtain an abortion.
In a measure designed to mimic the state’s abortion laws, men would have to first get certification from a sexual therapist that his erectile dysfunction wasn’t solely because of psychological conditions. After getting a prescription, the patient would have to attend three sessions of counseling within six months to ensure he understands its side effects.
McLeod knows her bill won’t become law in the conservative state. But she told NBC that she hopes it will spark more discussion about South Carolina’s abortion laws.
“I purposely tried to make it as invasive, as intrusive, as hypocritical and unnecessary as possible to make the point,” she said.
