JACKSON, Miss. (KPEL News) - A Mississippi Democrat has introduced a controversial new bill meant to target men's role in pregnancy. Could a similar bill make its way to Louisiana in the next legislative session?

The bill, which is titled the "Contraception Begins At Erection Act," was proposed by Democratic state senator Bradford Blackmon, who says he wrote the bill because "the vast majority of bills relating to contraception and/or abortion focus on the woman’s role when men are fifty percent of the equation."

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Contraception Begins at What Now?

The proposed law aims to make it “unlawful for a person to discharge genetic material without the intent to fertilize an embryo.”

Blackmon, a Democrat, is a first-term senator in the Mississippi legislature. He introduced the bill pointing out the disparity between contraception and abortion bills that target women's reproductive role.

The bill sets fines of $1,000 for first offense, $5,000 for second offense, and $10,000 for third offense. There is no mechanism to explain how they would catch someone in the act. There is also very little chance that the bill gets passed through the Republican-led legislature.

While Republican-led efforts tend to focus on women's roles in reproduction, mainstream conservative efforts focus on the moment of fertilization and conception, targeting "abortifacient" contraception (drugs that terminate the embryo after conception) and outright abortion.

There are some efforts, though outside the mainstream, that go beyond those efforts, but they rarely gain traction outside of the fringe of the party.

Will a Louisiana Politician Try It Here?

While it's possible some progressives in Louisiana could use the opportunity to introduce a bill of their own like Blackmon's in the upcoming legislative session, it would likewise go nowhere in the Republican-dominated House and Senate, and certainly wouldn't get signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.

But it wouldn't just be Republicans who would oppose the bill. Some of the most recent anti-abortion bills passed in Louisiana were either written or sponsored by Democrats and even signed by then-governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat himself.

A Statement Rather Than a Law

Ultimately, bills like Blackmon's are less about actual policy and more about making a statement on a hot political topic like abortion. They rarely end up getting through the legislative process, much less getting signed into law.

Still, it is a bill that is certainly raising eyebrows.

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