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Women and their doctors should make health care decisions, not politicians. The Abortion Ban keeps doctors from using their medical judgment to decide what medical procedure is safest for each individual patient and sends the message that the state of Wisconsin believes politicians, not doctors, know what will best protect the health of a pregnant woman. |
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 Bill Status:
Passed 7-3 in Assembly Judiciary Committee 2-21-08
Passed 59-38 in Assembly 2-29-08
Amendment to protect women's health failed 54-43 in Assembly 2-29-08
Amendment to remove penalties for rape victims in the criminal abortion law failed 54-43 in Assembly 2-29-08 |
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| Outrageous Quote | | The extreme agenda of anti-choice legislators is clear:
"the health of the mother is not an issue."
-Representative Jim Ott's (R-Mequon), bill author, public testimony during the Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill |
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| Misplaced Priorities on Full Display during Assembly Hearing | | With just a short time remaining for this legislative session, the Assembly Judiciary and Ethics Committee spent many of the precious hours it has left to consider the Abortion Ban. Not only does the bill duplicate existing federal law, it's a dangerous all-out assault on women's health and safety in Wisconsin that comes on the heels of the Assembly's most recent attempt to block rape victims' access to birth control to prevent pregnancy and the incidence of abortion.
In 2003, the U.S. Congress passed and President Bush signed the Federal Abortion Ban, a law banning certain second trimester abortion procedures even if a woman's health is at risk. Last spring, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the law was constitutional--overturning 30 plus years of precedent requiring abortion restrictions to include an exception protecting women’s health. Wisconsin's bill would be an exact copy of the federal law that is in place and governing Wisconsin medical care.
The federal ban is already law in Wisconsin, so this bill will not accomplish anything other than underscoring for voters the Assembly leadership's blatant disregard for women's health.
The bill also violates the Wisconsin Medical Code of Ethics, which directs physicians to consider a patient's life and health of paramount importance. Any action that places a patient’s health in danger would violate the professional code. Wis. Admin. Code MED 10.02(h).
This bill only serves to reiterate that Wisconsin politicians do not believe doctors should be using their medical judgment to decide what medical procedure is safest for each individual patient's health.
Let's stop wasting precious time debating a policy is already federal law and refocus the debate on decreasing unintended pregnancies. Instead of passing this bill, which does nothing to reduce the incidence of abortion, legislators should work with Planned Parenthood and the public health community to increase access to birth control and sex education. |
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| The Assembly Leadership's Misplaced Priorities | | In his State of the State address, Governor Doyle vowed to make health care a priority in Wisconsin. His focus on bolstering the economy and enhancing affordable health care access is in sharp contrast with the Assembly leadership's misplaced priorities.
Assembly Leader Mike Huebsch acknowledged the health care crisis, commenting in the La Crosse Tribune recently that “[e]veryone recognizes that health care is a huge problem in this state and this country.” Yet, rather than work to address these pressing needs, Huebsch predicted that he doesn’t see too many issues making it through the Legislature. Huebsch, has in fact, actively worked to delay passage of bills that enhance women’s access to health care while fast tracking bills that harm women’s health, like the recently introduced Abortion Ban. Consider these recent actions:
X Delayed Compassionate Care for Rape Victims, a bill that would actually reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy and abortion.
X Put the Abortion Procedures Ban (Assembly Bill 710) on the fast track in the Legislature.
X Led the attack on family planning spending during the long, drawn out budget talks.
If Mike Huebsch and his colleagues in the Assembly really want to reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion, they would enhance access to birth control and family services. It's time for them to stop playing politics and start working with us to create a healthier state for women and their families. |
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| PPAWI to Assembly Leadership: A Woman’s Health Matters! | | With only days remaining in the general session floor period, and economic woes on the minds of most voters, the Assembly leadership has instead focused its attention on banning already banned abortion procedures. This after the Assembly leadership worked for months to eliminate prevention-based health care in the state budget, and then failed to block the advancement of Compassionate Care for Rape Victims. And now in a renewed push to once again block birth control access, Republican leaders in the Senate and Assembly have introduced a bill to gut the family planning waiver program, which serves 55,000 women and would attract $459 million federal dollars in 2008-09.
Meanwhile, the Assembly leadership is promoting AB 710, which would forbid doctors from choosing which abortion procedure they believe safest to use, with no exception for a woman's health. But they're allowing Wisconsin's Criminal Abortion Statute to remain on the books, a law that's so extreme, it imposes prison time on women who obtain an abortion, even those who are victims of sexual assault or who are experiencing serious health problems. Under Wisconsin's criminal abortion law, women can serve up to 3 ˝ years in prison for intentionally terminating a pregnancy, and physicians who provide abortions can go to prison for up to 15 years.
The Assembly leadership's misplaced priorities are clearly out of step with the values of the people of Wisconsin, 74% of whom agreed in a recent poll that medical decisions about abortion should be made by women, their families and their doctors, without interference from politicians.
If you are opposed to abortion in every circumstance, then you should be working to protect and enhance women's ability to prevent unintended pregnancy and the incidence of abortion, rather than advancing policies that reduce women's access to birth control and related health care information and services. |
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