With great legislative power, comes great responsibility. In light of recent nationwide legislation, there’s a sobering reminder of the responsibility that our nation’s lawmakers hold.

State Rep Chris Rabb, a democrat from Philadelphia, has introduced a new bill to the Pennsylvania legislature requiring vasectomies for men in the Quaker State after the birth of their third child or when they reach age 40, whichever comes first. It would also codify into state law a definition of “wrongful conception” against sexually irresponsible men. The official news site of the Pennsylvania House Democrats explains the law would also provide a $10,000 reward for reporting violators “allowing for Pennsylvanians to take civil action against ‘inseminators.’”

Rabb knows the bill has no chance of passing and is not even serious about it. He proudly refers to it as “parody legislation” in response to Texas’ recent incredibly strong and innovative pro-life law.

He curiously explained, apparently in all seriousness, “As long as state legislatures continue to restrict the reproductive rights of cis women, trans men and non-binary people, there should be laws to address the responsibility of men who impregnate them.” Rabb added, “My sincere hope in introducing this legislation is that my colleagues in the General Assembly consider the egregiously gendered double standard when it comes to curtailing reproductive health care as it applies to women.”

But Rabb is employing is own troubling double-standard, incapable of keeping his own gender rhetoric straight. He clearly wants to target and punish irresponsible men, but according to the gender orthodoxy language he has aligned himself with to defend his bill, he forgets that if “trans men” and non-binary people can get pregnant, then “trans women” and non-binary people can also be irresponsible inseminators and therefore, require his legally mandated vasectomies. Yes, it gets confusing, but if you are going to change the rules and redefine reality itself, you at least must keep your story straight, which gender theorists have great difficulty doing.

If you are going to use a new and fashionable ideological perspective on gender, one should at least be consistent with it. You cannot meaningfully rail against male patriarchy, as Rabb is seeking to do, if gender itself can be subjectively self-defined. If anyone can be a woman, anyone can also be a man, thus making complaints about patriarchy meaningless.

Yes, Rabb’s bill is indeed a silly and embarrassing farce.

Photo from Shutterstock.