'Men are 50% of the equation': Lawmaker trolls pro-lifers with bill criminalizing 'discharge'

23 January

Mississippi, which Donald Trump won by almost 23 percent in 2024, is among the deep red states that has had a strict abortion ban since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling of 2022.

Because Mississippi has a Republican governor, Tate Reeves, and majorities in both branches of its state legislature, that abortion ban is unlikely to go away anytime soon. But a Democrat, Mississippi State Sen. Bradford Blackmon, has found a way to troll Republicans on abortion and contraception.

Blackmon has unveiled a bill he's calling the "Contraception Begins at Erection Act," which would make it illegal for "a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo."

Blackmon wrote, "All across the country, especially here in Mississippi, the vast majority of bills relating to contraception and/or abortion focus on the woman’s role when men are 50% of the equation. This bill highlights that fact and brings the man's role into the conversation. People can get up in arms and call it absurd, but I can't say that bothers me."

NBC News' Alexandra Marquez reports that Blackmon's bill "would seemingly ban men from masturbating."

"The bill criminalizes these sexual acts by imposing fines: $1,000 for a first offense, $5000 for a second offense and $10,000 for any subsequent offenses," Marquez explains. "Blackmon's bill includes exceptions for sperm donation and sexual acts with the use of contraception. The fourth clause of the bill states that the fines 'shall not apply to the discharge of genetic material (a) donated or sold to a facility for the purpose of future procedures to fertilize an embryo; and (b) discharged with the use of a contraceptive or contraceptive method intend to prevent fertilization of an embryo.'"

According to Marquez, the Contraception Begins at Erection Act would go into effect in July if it passed in the Mississippi State Legislature and Reeves signed it into law. But that, Marquez notes, is "unlikely" to happen "given that Republicans are the majority of the Mississippi State Legislature."

Read NBC News' full article at this link.

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