I’m actually a sixth generation Wisconsinite. Nearly my entire family still lives in the area – all my aunts and uncles, my cousins – so Wisconsin is a place where I feel very deeply connected.

The 1849 ban prevents us from being able to perform abortions. People are suffering and people are dying as a result of this and it’s affecting most profoundly women who are vulnerable, women of color women who live in rural Wisconsin, women who don’t have the money to be able to travel out of state for this essential health care. This is a disparity issue and it’s wrong.

It’s easy to think about this in terms of right now, because there are a lot of people in the state right now who are not receiving the care that they need and deserve. But let’s put it into a different context – let’s think about Wisconsin in the years and decades to come.

In the midst of a physician shortage that is already here, where we’ve created programs to solve this problem, we now have a law that is pushing these future doctors away. Who’s going to take care of us in five years, in ten years?

This is the state that was able to figure out how to do a state income tax for the benefit of the state and local municipalities. This is the state that recognized that workers compensation was important. This is the state that was the seat of progressivism a hundred years ago. We’re always thinking about the future. Earth day came from Wisconsin. We’ve got beautiful natural resources. There’s so much goodness here in the state.