‘A mockery’: US men facing insane $16k fine for ‘ejaculating’
Is spilling semen outside a woman’s vagina a sin? Some US politicians say it is – and they want to fine men caught in the act.
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Is spilling semen outside a woman’s vagina a sin?
Legislators in Ohio and Mississippi want to fine men up to $A16,000 if they’re caught doing so.
A draft bill was released in Ohio this week, seeking to make ejaculation without the intent of conceiving a baby a felony offence. Its advocates say the intent is to stir up public debate over reproductive rights and the interpretation – and application – of Biblical law.
If United States’ governments are willing to use interpretations of theological law to regulate women, why not men?
Ohio State Representatives Anita Somani and Tristan Rader, the authors of the “Conception Begins at Erection Act”, say it’s a tongue-in-cheek means of highlighting the hypocrisy behind moves to regulate women’s bodies.
“You don’t get pregnant on your own,” observes Representative Somani (Democrat for Dublin).
“If you’re going to penalise someone for an unwanted pregnancy, why not penalise the person who is also responsible for the pregnancy?”
It is now illegal in 10 states for women to have a termination, even in the aftermath of a rape. At least three women have been jailed after the US Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old Roe vs. Wade precedent. This had previously interpreted the US Constitution as giving women the right to seek an abortion.
Now George H.W. Bush-appointed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has said he wants to re-evaluate the legality of birth control by challenging the similar, precedent-setting, 60-year-old Griswold vs. Connecticut case.
“If you think it’s absurd to regulate men, then you should think it’s equally absurd to regulate women,” Somani insists.
“So this is to make a statement.”
But the political stunt represents a deep and growing divide within US society.
Christian extremist groups, such as the Dominionists or New Apostolic Reformation evangelical movement, are asserting their desire to use the new Donald Trump White House administration to turn the US into a religious state.
They want a new Republic to enforce their hard line interpretation of Christian law on the entire population.
“Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian nation. So I am,” Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley stated in June last year.
“And some will say that I am advocating Christian nationalism. And so I do.”
Debate reaches a climax
“It’s beyond ridiculous what’s going on here,” Ohio state Republican Representative Austin Beigel retorted to the proposed “Conception Begins at Erection” bill.
“It’s a mockery of the most basic biological concepts.”
But the modern understanding of the human reproductive process is far in advance of the Bronze Age lore of the Old Testament.
And that’s causing legal problems.
Nowhere is this more evident than in a growing US debate over infertility treatments.
Is in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) – where semen is removed from a man, assessed for quality, and injected into an egg – a sin unto God?
It’s a concept not addressed by the Bible.
And therefore, a matter of interpretation
President Trump does not think it is a problem. He’s gone so far as to promise IVF treatments would be subsidised by the Federal Government and insurance companies as a means of combating falling birthrates.
It’s a move given qualified support by activists who believe Constitutional protections should apply to embryos from “the moment of fertilisation”. But other activists argue it is a sin not to wait for “God’s perfect timing”.
They quote Romans 12:2: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
But most of the highly inflamed debate centres on a woman’s right to abortion.
“The pro-life movement has never tried to regulate women’s bodies,” Beigel told the Ohio Capitol Journal.
“We’re trying to regulate the actions of people who want to kill another person.”
US Centres for Disease Control data in 2021 recorded 11.6 abortions per 1000 women aged 15 to 44. This was down from 25 per 1000 in 1980.
A recent Pew Research Center study found that 62 per cent of US adults said the practice should be legal in all, or most, cases. Another 36 per cent said it should be illegal in all, or most, cases.
Onan’s Law: An inconceivable idea?
Evangelical activists point to the Old Testament portion of the Christian Bible as justification.
For Supreme Court Judge Thomas’ intended re-examination of contraception rights, moves to outlaw IVF procedures and expanded abortion bans, in particular, Genesis 38:6-11.
This passage recounts the story of Onan. His brother, Er, had died. And Onan had been instructed to impregnate Er’s widow to conceive a son. That son was to inherit Er’s estate.
“And it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: Wherefore he slew him also.”
There is much theological debate as to whether Onan’s offence was to refuse to impregnate his brother’s wife (and therefore take the inheritance for himself), or the discharging of sacred, life-triggering semen outside the vagina. Or both.
It’s been interpreted by some as a Christian law precedent against birth control and masturbation.
But whether or not the offence should be punishable by death or treated as “unclean” (as detailed in Leviticus 15:16-18) remains unresolved.
The Catholic Church moved to clarify its interpretation of reproductive lore on its followers in 1968. Pope Paul VI’s encyclical (doctrinal judgement) Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) came down firmly against contraception.
“The Church, nevertheless, in urging men to the observance of the precepts of the natural law, which it interprets by its constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.
“Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation — whether as an end or as a means.”
But the Old Testament punishment for adultery is not open to interpretation.
Leviticus 20:10: “And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”
Strangely, New Apostolic Reformation activists are not yet advocating this be instituted as US state and federal law. It’s a matter close to President Trump’s heart (specifically, whether or not it keeps beating).
And to what extent any or all of the above is mitigated by New Testament lore remains hotly debated among Christianity’s diverse denominations.
Put up or pull out
“This bill highlights the vast inequalities in how we talk about men’s bodies versus how we talk about women’s bodies,” states Representative Rader.
“If you find this language to be absurd, then maybe you should find any bill attempting to restrict reproductive freedoms absurd as well.”
Representative Somani also spoke in a video posted by the pair to Bluesky.
“Fair is fair, right?” Somani states.
“If this legislature is so dedicated to regulating women’s bodies and their access to contraceptives and abortion care, then let’s start policing men in the same way … After all, it does take two to tango, right?”
The proposed Ohio law sets out to be merciful for male seed offenders. Those arrested on a first offence will only be fined $A1600. This rises to $A8000 for the second, and $A16,000 for the third.
The bill also proposes exempted circumstances.
Ohio men will not be punished if the act does not directly and immediately involve an ova. This includes donating sperm for IVF, masturbating alone, having sex in the LGBTQ+ community, or with a woman using birth control.
Instead, the offence is targeted explicitly at men having sex with a woman without the intent of conceiving a child.
The “Conception Begins at Erection Act” has not been formally introduced to the Ohio House Floor. Nor is it likely to be, its authors concede.
But it is likely to inflame debate around attempts to circumvent Ohio state law.
A 2023 referendum passed 57 per cent to 43 per cent to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. It also cemented the right for Ohioan women to decide about contraception, fertility treatments, contraception and miscarriage treatments.
However, Republican state Representative Beigel has introduced his own bill, the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act.
“It just says human life begins at conception,” Beigel told News5 Cleveland.
“Therefore, all the protections that are offered to other people under the state law are also offered to the preborn.”
He also wants the US Supreme Court to grant embryos equal protection under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. That would overturn the majority vote in Ohio’s referendum.
“Yeah, look back at American history,” Biegel explained.
“The issue of slavery was popular with the majority at certain times, and so it is absolutely possible for the majority of a state’s populace to support something that’s evil and something that’s wrong.”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @jamieseidel.bsky.social
Originally published as ‘A mockery’: US men facing insane $16k fine for ‘ejaculating’
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