September 15, 2010

Planned Parenthood Advocates Launches Next Phase of Viral Media Campaign
New online video highlights the extreme positions of Scott Walker

MADISON, WI – Today Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin launched a second online video featuring Republican Gubernatorial Primary winner Scott Walker and his extreme stance on women’s health. This is the second video in a series of planned online media and voter mobilization aimed at exposing the extreme views of Scott Walker and other candidates opposed to women’s basic health care access. By Election Day, PPAWI will have made hundreds of thousands of voter contacts to turn out the vote for women’s health champions through the use of mail, phone, door-to-door canvasses and e-advocacy.

“In the wake of yesterday’s primary, we’ve launched a second online video, which uses humor to illustrate something that isn’t funny at all: Scott Walker is far more extreme than he appears when it comes to matters of women’s health,” said Tanya Atkinson, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin. “Scott Walker is so far out of the mainstream, he doesn’t think that pharmacists have to fill valid prescriptions for women’s birth control pills, or that a rape victim should have access to birth control in hospital emergency rooms to prevent pregnancy from her assault.”

Scott Walker has pledged to advance policies restricting access to birth control, sex education and abortion access for Wisconsinites. He supports outlawing abortion across the board—even in cases of rape and incest, or if a pregnant woman’s life is in danger. He supports Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth and other extreme politicians who work to keep lifesaving information about preventing teen pregnancy and STDs out of Wisconsin public schools. 

Democratic Gubernatorial Primary winner Tom Barrett, on the other hand, is committed to making sure women and families continue to have access to affordable, quality health care, including cervical and breast cancer screenings, testing and treatment for STDs and the full range of birth control options. Mayor Barrett believes that personal, private health care decisions, such as when to have children, are best made by women and families, not politicians, and that Wisconsin youth should get abstinence-based, medically accurate and age-appropriate information about preventing pregnancy and STDs.

“The contrast between Tom Barrett and Scott Walker couldn’t be more stark,” Atkinson continued. “The question for Wisconsin voters is whether they want to continue moving forward by electing a women’s health champion like Tom Barrett as our next Governor, or if they want Scott Walker to drag Wisconsin women and families backward.”