Two Ohio Democrats have proposed a state law that would make it illegal for straight men to have unprotected sex without intending to have a child.

According to Cleveland’s 19 News, state Reps. Anita Somani and Tristan Rader intend to introduce the “Conception Begins at Erection Act” in the coming months. The bill would make it a felony for men to “discharge semen without the intent to fertilize an embryo.” Those who violate the law would face a $1,000 fine for a first offense, $5,000 for a second, and $10,000 for any subsequent offense, Advocate reports.

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The bill would include exceptions for men who use contraception during sex, those donating sperm or masturbating, and for men having sex with other men or members of the LGBTQ+ community who do not “produce ova.”

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“You don’t get pregnant on your own,” Somani told local ABC affiliate WEWS. “If you’re going to penalize someone for an unwanted pregnancy, why not penalize the person who is also responsible for the pregnancy?”

Somani, who is also an OBGYN, is referring to Republican efforts to outlaw abortion across the country in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion access in the U.S. While abortion is currently legal in Ohio, End Abortion Ohio president Austin Beigel told WEWS that he expects Republican lawmakers in the state to introduce their own anti-abortion bill, the “Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act,” in the coming weeks.

“We really want to draw attention to our State House and the bills that we’re seeing that harm Ohio,” Somani told 19 News of legislation aimed at enshrining so-called “fetal personhood” into law.  

Beigel described the “Conception Begins at Erection Act” as “beyond ridiculous,” and Somani agrees. She’s well aware that the bill would have no chance of passing Ohio’s Republican dominated House, and admitted that it is meant as “a statement.”

“If you think it’s absurd to regulate men, then you should think it’s equally absurd to regulate women,” she told WEWS. “Just like abortion bills have penalized physicians or created felonies for physicians and patients, the intent of the bill is to show that we should not be policing anybody’s reproductive right.”

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