In May 2022, Oklahoma State Representative Mickey Dollens invited his fellow lawmakers to co-author a bill which would give a mandatory vasectomy to every young man in the state. The sterilisation would only be reversed once each man could prove they were both financially and emotionally stable to parent a child.

If you think this idea sounds ridiculous, that’s because Dollens is only raising the bill to make a point that the state—along with the rest of the country—having such invasive control over a person’s body is ridiculous too.

"I would invite you to co-author a bill that I'm considering next year that would mandate that each male, when they reach puberty, get a mandatory vasectomy that's only reversible when they reach the point of financial and emotional stability."

— OK State Rep. Mickey Dollens (D) pic.twitter.com/AvszMmDt7M

— The Recount (@therecount) May 20, 2022

Following the news of Friday 24 June that the Supreme Court made the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, effectively ruling that the constitution will not safeguard a woman’s right to an abortion, this invasive control is exactly what will happen to millions in the US.

Hence, performing an abortion became a criminal offence in Oklahoma on Friday. Anyone who gets the medical procedure done at any point after fertilisation in the state can now be subject to penalties ranging from two to five years in prison. The life of the mother is the lone exception for the state-specific law. A woman having an abortion would not be charged.

“Oklahoma’s law is very clear now,” state Attorney General John O’Connor said during a news conference. “Law enforcement is now activated in respect to any effort to aid, abet or solicit any abortions.”

A law that will further increase the potential penalties to ten years as well as a fine of $100,000 for performing an abortion is set to go into effect on 26 August. The only exceptions to Oklahoma’s new abortion laws are in the case of rape or incest, only if they have been reported to the authorities.

Considering the introduction of legislation to force men into having vasectomies as early as next year, Dollens suggested to Republicans, who thought he was being ‘crazy’, that now “maybe you understand how 50 per cent of Oklahomans feel.”

Though Republicans have famously argued that there is “nothing higher or more critical than the defence of innocent, unborn life,” Dollens has pointed out that instead this is simply a massive overturning of rights and freedoms that women in the US have enjoyed for almost 50 years.

Understandably, the Supreme Court’s verdict on Roe v. Wade has attracted widespread condemnation, with large protests in the US and international figures speaking out against the ruling. As the verdict from the conservative-dominated court is expected to lead individual states to enforce abortion bans, women all over the country have vowed to go on a ‘sex strike’ against men.

Protests have been held across the US and outside American consulates abroad. President Joe Biden even called the overturning of Roe v. Wade “a sad day for the court and for the country.” He encouraged voters to take their anger at the Supreme Court’s decision and channel it against the Republicans in the midterm elections due to be held in November 2022.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas suggested gay marriage could be the next thing overturned…

Republican candidate Yesli Vega, who is running in Virginia’s seventh congressional district, has garnered great backlash for comments implying that women are less likely to become pregnant via rape. Vega, who is campaigning against the currently seated Democrat Abigail Spanberger, was questioned about her opinions on abortion in audio files exclusively obtained by Axios.

The candidate was queried on her stance prior to the official overturning of Roe v. Wade on the pending Supreme Court decision last month but was leaked by Axios on Monday 27 June. Citing her experience as a Prince William County supervisor and a sheriff’s deputy, Vega affirmed her beliefs for restrictions on abortion by stating, “It’s not something that’s happening organically.”

“The left will say, ‘Well what about in cases of rape or incest?’ I’m a law enforcement officer. I became a police officer in 2011. I’ve worked one case where as a result of a rape, the young woman became pregnant,” she began. The Republican was then asked the following question: “I’ve actually heard that it’s harder for a woman to get pregnant if she’s been raped. Have you heard that?”

To which Vega responded: “Well, maybe because there’s so much going on in the body. I don’t know. I haven’t, you know, seen any studies. But if I’m processing what you’re saying, it wouldn’t surprise me. Because it’s not something that’s happening organically. You’re forcing it. The individual, the male, is doing it as quickly—it’s not like, you know—and so I can see why there is truth to that. It’s unfortunate.”

Here's the audio clip in question: pic.twitter.com/0k6iBA2bUA

— Ned Oliver (@nedoliver) June 27, 2022

Winning the Republican primary for the chance to challenge Spanberger’s seat last week, Vega went on to suggest that abortion rights groups are “pushing a narrative that the vast majority of abortions are from pregnancies as a result of rape, when in fact that is not true,” as reported by The Independent. The publication went on to cite evidence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which has statistically proven that around three million US women have experienced pregnancy via rape within their lifetime.

In fact, another 1996 study into pregnancy rates via assault showed that the US national rape-related pregnancy rate was “five per cent per rape among victims of reproductive age (aged 12 to 45).” A statistic that culminates in around 32,000 pregnancies as a product of rape each year and “among 34 cases of rape-related pregnancy, the majority occurred among adolescents and resulted from assault by a known, often [related] perpetrator.”

Vega’s comments have come under fire with VoteVets—a committee dedicated to the electing of progressive veterans to office—that took to Twitter and stated, “Yesli Vega is an extremist and way out of touch with voters in Virginia and throughout the country. We didn’t fight overseas to have our freedoms taken away here at home by people like Vega. Her comments are outrageous, disgusting and shameful.”

President Pro Tempore for the Senate of Virginia, Louise Lucas also wrote, “This woman is running around in law enforcement spewing this kind of crap? She’s a complete disgrace to everyone else wearing that uniform.” Her currently elected rival Spanberger also responded to the Republican candidate’s comments published by Axios, stating that it is “shamefully disrespectful toward victims of rape, and clearly indicate that she is not qualified to be making serious policy decisions.”

When asked for comments about her remarks by Axios, Vega told the publication in a statement, “I’m a mother of two, I’m fully aware of how women get pregnant.”

This woman is running around in law enforcement spewing this kind of crap? She’s a complete disgrace to everyone else wearing that uniform.

https://t.co/o9ePPoDZrS

— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) June 27, 2022