An Alabama legislator introduced a bill to require men to get a vasectomy by their 50th birthday, in response to Alabama’s restrictive abortion laws.

Rep. Rolanda Hollis, a Democrat, introduced the bill on Thursday, as reported by AL.com.

The bill would require men to get a vasectomy following the birth of their third child or by their 50th birthday, whichever happens first. A man would be responsible for getting the procedure “at his own expense."

“The vasectomy bill is to help with the reproductive system, and yes, it is to neutralize the abortion ban bill … it always takes two to tango," Hollis told AL.com. “We can’t put all the responsibility on women. Men need to be responsible also.”

In May 2019, Alabama passed the fetal heartbeat bill, as Blavity previously reported, which would mandate doctors who perform abortions after the detection of a heartbeat during an attempted abortion to face 99 years in prison. The law made no exception for incest or rape, effectively banning abortion in the state of Alabama. A federal judge blocked the law from going into effect in October.

Hollis describes herself as both pro-life and pro-choice because she doesn’t believe people “should use abortion as a birth control.”

“I do believe that if a woman is raped or if it’s incest or anything like that, then she has the choice to do what she wants to do,” Hollis said.

She’s aware the bill would be seen as “an outrageous overstep,” but that’s the point.

“Year after year the majority party continues to introduce new legislation that tries to dictate a woman’s body and her reproductive rights," she told WSFA.

Ironically, Hollis introduced her bill the same day Republican lawmaker Ginny Shaver introduced the “Born Alive” bill.

Shaver’s bill, nicknamed “Gianna’s Law,” would require doctors to perform lifesaving measures for children born during an attempted abortion. The law is named for Gianna Jessen, a woman who allegedly survived an attempted abortion.

“There is no such thing as post-birth abortion. Think about those three words. That’s infanticide,” Shaver told Jeff Poor, according to Yellow Hammer.

“That’s what it is and what my bill does is in this situation where a child survives an abortion attempt and is born alive, it would require a physician to exercise the same reasonable care to preserve the life of the child that is born alive.”

Shaver originally introduced the bill in 2019, and the Alabama House of Representatives passed it, but it stalled in the Senate.

According to Ballotpedia, Hollis joined the Alabama House in 2017.

She currently services District 58. 

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