Female legislator files bill to put restrictions on erectile-dysfunction medications to make a point about men pushing abortion bills

Rep. Mary Lou Marzian

Fed up with a string of anti-abortion bills backed by religious conservatives, Democratic state Rep. Mary Lou Marzian of Louisville has filed a bill that would require men seeking medication to treat erectile dysfunction to have two office visits with a doctor -- and limit such prescriptions to married men who swear on a Bible that they will use the drug only for sex with their spouse, who would have to consent to the prescription.

“I just thought my 80 male colleagues in the House might like to consider what it feels like when legislators get between them and their physicians,” Marzian told John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

“I’m just sick of them,” she told Joe Sonka of Insider Louisville. “It’s just to make a point. Should we have a bunch of politicians untrained in health care telling women what to do? So I thought I’d just tell them what to do.”

Sonka notes that Gov. Matt Bevin has already signed a bill requiring a woman seeking an abortion to have a face-to-face consultation with a doctor, and the Senate is moving a bill that would require a trans-vaginal ultrasound before an abortion.

Marzian's counter-measure is House Bill 396. "Much of the bill’s sentiment, and some of its precise language, mirrors the anti-abortion bills," Cheves notes. "That’s not a coincidence," said Marzian, a retired Louisville nurse. Cheves notes that almost half of House members are 60 or older.

Marzian told Sonka she may file the bill's language as an amendment to the Senate bill and other anti-abortion measures “to demonstrate how ridiculous it is for elected government officials to be meddling in private health care decisions. … they’re so obsessed with uteruses and ovaries and women’s health, but not concerned about the 9 percent cut to mental health services” proposed by Bevin as part of budget reductions for most state agencies.