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A modest proposal for consumer protection

Many unusual propositions have been debated in U.S. state legislatures, but a new climax of sorts may have been reached in Oklahoma last week as representatives pondered the notion of a consumer protection code for sex. The idea came from Representative Cleta Deatherage, 27, who argued vigorously that men should be required to obtain written consent from women before engaging in intercourse, and that women, before granting such consent, should receive a warning about the risks of pregnancy and the health dangers of childbirth. Her proposal was a protest amendment tacked on to an antiabortion bill before the legislature, and it paralleled sections in the proposed law that would require doctors to issue similar warnings to abortion applicants. Casanova would have reeled, and so did most of the Oklahoma representatives. They passed the anti-abortion bill 70 to 24, but defeated Deatherage's amendment by a solid 78 to 9.

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