MADISON, Wis. – On the two year anniversary of the MAGA controlled U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and taking away our federally protected right to access abortion care, A Better Wisconsin Together is calling on local lawmakers to protect abortion access at the state level.
“As we reflect on the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that set us back 50 years in the fight for reproductive freedoms, A Better Wisconsin Together is calling for immediate action to protect reproductive health care access – including abortion care, contraceptive care, IVF, and more – in Wisconsin,” said A Better Wisconsin Together Communications Director Lucy Ripp.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Wisconsin Republicans tried to use a statute from 1849 to ban abortion and prosecute doctors and nurses for providing care.
Ripp noted that although reproductive rights advocates recently won a court decision allowing abortion care to resume in Wisconsin because the 1849 statute doesn’t apply to consensual abortion care, some GOP state legislators are still working relentlessly to restrict our reproductive freedoms – and had been working for decades to dismantle abortion care years before Roe v. Wade was struck down.
Republican State Senators Joan Ballweg and Duey Stroebel, for example, tried to change the Wisconsin constitution to ban all abortions with no exceptions, and outlaw IVF and stem cell research. Ballweg and Stroebel have previously received endorsements from radical anti-abortion groups like Pro-Life Wisconsin, a group that advocates for banning abortion with no exceptions and only endorses candidates they deem “100% pro-life.”
GOP representatives in the state Assembly have followed suit, voting against Wisconsinites’ right to contraception and refusing to repeal the statute from 1849 before a judge ruled that it does not apply to abortion care.
Assembly Republicans against our reproductive freedoms include Amanda Nedweski and Patrick Snyder, who both have previously been endorsed by Wisconsin Right to Life, an anti-abortion group whose website says they support candidates that pledge to, “stand with Wisconsin Right to Life’s values when voting for pro-life legislation.”
“In the most recent legislative session, the GOP-controlled legislature had several chances to pass laws from their Democratic colleagues that would protect access to reproductive healthcare, but chose instead to propose bills that would restrict care and give politicians a seat in our exam rooms,” said Ripp. “Now that two full years have passed without Roe v. Wade, the time is now to protect reproductive rights, including abortion care, at the state level.”
Call your state legislator today at 1-800-362-9472 and demand that no matter a person’s zip code, everybody deserves the freedom to make decisions about growing their families.
