At first glance, it seems to be a valiant effort to protect women.

But when you look closer, the date rape bill that just passed the Iowa House is a severely ambiguous piece of legislation written by people who should not pretend to be experts on something they know very little about.

The bill, according to Speaker of the House Rob Corbett, R-Cedar Rapids, “prohibits sex while one of the participants is under the influence of a controlled substance and is unable to resist because of the drug.”

If you and your partner go out to the bars one night, it is conceivable that the courts could find it to be illegal for the two of you to go home and exercise your rights as consenting adults.

The vague nature of the legislation would make this situation entirely possible. While written to address date rape drugs like Rohypnol, the phrases “controlled substances” and “unable to resist” cast an ambiguous light on the bill as a whole. It seems that the reactionary zeal of legislators, in relation to anything connected with drugs, has compromised a much-needed piece of legislation.

Vagueness aside, enforceability would be a problem with the bill, as written.

Increased funding for women’s education and self-esteem programs, required sensitivity training in the school and the workplace, stiffer penalties and stricter sentences for rapists and making the legal system seem safer and more appealing to rape victims are all issues that should be addressed before drugs become the boogeyman for yet another social ill.

Perhaps Iowa legislators could try again before the bill makes its way through the Senate and onto law.

This is an important issue and it’s important to get it right.