A Utah Republican lawmaker said on Friday that women have the power to control their “intake of semen” during sex as the state trigger law goes into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“I got a text message today saying I should seek to control men’s ejaculations and not women’s pregnancies,” state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee said during a news conference on Friday, adding that the message suggested, “I clearly don’t trust women enough to make choices to control their own body.”
“And my response is I do trust women enough to control when they allow a man to ejaculate inside of them and to control that intake of semen,” Lisonbee said.
Utah is one of 13 states with trigger laws that went into effect hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
In 2020, Utah Legislature passed SB174 which bans abortions in the state, except in cases where the procedure “is necessary to avert the death” of the woman or if there is “a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the pregnant woman.
The law also allows for an abortion in cases of rape or incest but the physician will have to verify the rape or incest has been reported to law enforcement or the proper authorities.
Lisonbee was a co-sponsor of the bill.
