Today, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and WisDems Chair Ben Wikler hosted a press conference to highlight these efforts and support the reelection campaign of numerous Democratic politicians.
On the steps of the State Capitol building and alongside representatives from Planned Parenthood, they outlined the continuing effects of an abortion ban on people’s daily lives. Mayor Rhodes-Conway says, “What we see now is that government is trying to dictate private health care decisions – which should scare all of us! I mean, let’s be real, I’m a postmenopausal lesbian; me getting pregnant would take a miracle. But I am scared because of these decisions and because of this legislation that has been introduced across the country to take away the right to choose. Because I know that MAGA Republicans will not stop with abortion care. If it is okay for the government to dictate private health care choices, who knows where they will stop.”
Ben Wikler discussed the importance of the 2024 election to protect reproductive rights, hitting home a favorite rallying point for Democrats in which they use the issue of reproductive rights to increase funding and voter turnout.
He points to the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would prevent governments from regulating abortions before viability. A previous version has been approved by the United States House, but has failed in the Senate: “[…] what happens in 2024 will hinge on Wisconsin. And it will hinge, not just in the Presidential race, but also in the fight for the Senate majority. Because the question of whether the United States Senate will pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to write the protections from Roe v. Wade, the protections for reproductive freedom into law, will depend on what might be yet again a one-seat majority in the US Senate. And the Senator most critical to that majority is Senator Tammy Baldwin.”
The Women’s Health Protection Act is one of numerous bills in Congress seeking to write abortion and contraception access into federal law.
Other related federal bills – to protect the right to travel out-of-state for an abortion, ensure legal safeguards for providers, and protect private medical information – have also been proposed but not passed.
On the state level, a lawsuit from Attorney General Josh Kaul to nullify Wisconsin’s 19th-century abortion ban continues to sit in Dane County Court, one year after being filed. It’s expected to eventually wind up before the state Supreme Court, which will flip to a liberal majority in August.
That’s as Wisconsin lawmakers grapple with how to adopt a vague, 174-year old law to today’s medicine. And, what rights are still protected after the fall of Roe.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan bill to allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control passed the Republican-held state Assembly. It moves next to the state Senate. Though it’s faced heavy fire from some Republicans, Governor Evers has promised to sign the bill into law if it reaches his desk.
Meanwhile, Representative Lisa Subeck of Madison – featured later in our show – and Senator Dianne Hesselbein of Middleton are spearheading an attempt to protect contraception access in Wisconsin. If passed, it would establish the patient’s right to access and the health care provider’s right to dispense information and contraception. It would also block any attempts to implement laws that infringe on these rights in future.
In the last year, pro-choice advocates and organizations have already carried out efforts to provide safe abortions to Wisconsin residents in spite of the ban. While this care cannot be carried out legally within Wisconsin’s borders, it is still protected in Illinois and Minnesota.
Organizations have continued to help people in Wisconsin get abortions in other states. Johanna Hatch is the Board President of POWERS, a nonprofit composed of doctors, midwives, doulas, and activists dedicated to helping pregnant people: “Our motto is: ‘trust pregnant people,’ so we are gonna follow the lead of the folks who seek our services.”
Hatch says that POWERS does not infringe on the ban by advising pregnant folks, but much of their work is now focused on the logistics and cost of travel. As a result, she says the greatest impact of the Dobbs decision has fallen on patients and clinics: “the people that we serve and the people that are calling us are absolutely facing obstacles in having to – first of all – travel out of state for this care. Secondly, clinics in a lot of our neighboring states have had to absorb folks coming from Wisconsin as well as other states with restrictions, so there are much longer wait times at some clinics for care that folks need. So there’s a lot of stress on a lot of clinics in neighboring states as well. And then there’s the financial realities of having to travel out of state.”
Following Dobbs, Planned Parenthood Illinois sought to prepare for an influx of out-of-state patients by opening more clinics in border cities such as Waukegan. The organization reported a 54% increase in patients last year, many traveling from Wisconsin.
The US Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson was handed down on June 24, 2022. This Saturday is the official one-year anniversary of the decision.
Anti-choice group Pro-Life Wisconsin is planning to march against abortion outside the state Capitol on Saturday afternoon, from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Organizers describe the rally as the largest gathering of pro-lifers in Wisconsin.
Local reproductive rights activist Lili Luxe encouraged WORT listeners to also show up then, in solidarity for reproductive rights.