Last week, Mississippi Sen. Bradford Blackmon introduced a bill that would theoretically ban men from masturbating or engaging in other sexual acts when they have no “intent to fertilize an embryo.” Now, he claims that he has received death threats over the proposed legislation.
Blackmon, a first-term senator representing a district north of Jackson, told TMZ that men are so upset about his idea that they’ve left him “vile” messages. Some of those were threatening his life. Blackmon also insisted that the bill wasn’t serious, but folks clearly didn’t pick up on his sense of humor.
“There was a bill that was going to make it punishable with jail time in Texas for someone assisting someone to get an abortion,” Blackmon stated.
“Not the doctor...but if you drove them somewhere you could be arrested and jailed. It was outrageous and the idea popped into my head: Well, what if we decide we want to regulate men? How would that reaction be?”
The senator then proposed the “Contraception Begins at Erection Act,” which would make it unlawful for “a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo.”
The bill includes exceptions for sperm donation and using contraception to prevent fertilization. It would also impose fines of $1,000 for a first offense, $5,000 for a second offense and $10,000 for any subsequent offenses.
Blackmon said he “knew it would ruffle some feathers” but was not expecting widespread condemnation in the form of “emails, voicemails, Instagram messages and Facebook messages.”
He has reported the death threats to authorities. The bill is unlikely to pass the Republican-leaning Legislature. However, if it does and is signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, it would go into effect in July.
Currently, 12 states — including Mississippi—have total or near-total abortion bans.