FACT SHEET

Abortion Ban (AB 710/SB 416)

 

 

Background

 

In 2003, the United States Congress passed and President Bush signed the Federal Abortion Ban, a law banning certain second trimester abortion procedures.  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.  This federal law is currently in effect in Wisconsin.  Wisconsin lawmakers are introducing AB 710/SB 416, a bill that copies the current federal law, prohibiting the same abortion procedures that are already illegal.

 

Women & their doctors should make health care decisions, not politicians

 

  • This bill is bad policy—it is a blanket prohibition on certain second trimester abortion procedures and does not include any exceptions for a woman’s health.

 

  • This bill keeps doctors from using their medical judgment to decide what medical procedure is safest for each individual patient.

 

  • This bill sends the message that the state of Wisconsin believes politicians, not doctors, know what will best protect the health of a pregnant woman.

 

  • A woman's health matters.

 

 

A federal abortion procedures ban is already in effect in Wisconsin and nationwide

 

  • This bill copies the current federal law.  The only difference is that the Wisconsin bill provides more jail time for doctors convicted under it—3 ½ years in prison.

 

  • This bill is an attempt by extremists to play politics with women’s health and lives.  The only lawmakers and groups supporting it are those who want to make all abortion illegal in Wisconsin.  These same people support Wisconsin’s current criminal abortion law that sends doctors and women to jail.

 

  • A woman's health matters.

 

Banning abortion procedures does not stop abortions; it simply forces women and their doctors to make riskier decisions

 

  • This bill will not prevent one abortion in the state of Wisconsin.  Instead, it dictates what medical procedure doctors can to protect pregnant women with serious health problems.

 

  • The only sure way to prevent abortions is to prevent unintended pregnancies.  The most effective way to prevent unintended pregnancies is to increase access to sex education and birth control services.

 

  • When abortion is illegal, it doesn’t go away.  Women still have abortions--just less safe abortions.  Criminalization forces women to obtain back-alley abortions and put their lives and health at great risk.

 

  • A woman's health matters.

 

Abortion procedure bans affect real women making heart-wrenching decisions

 

  • According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the country’s leading professional organization for women’s health providers, abortion procedure bans like this bill ignore medical consensus about the safest abortion procedures that doctors use to protect women’s health.

 

  • The banned procedures are often necessary to safeguard the health of pregnant women who suffer from severe health conditions like heart disease, bleeding disorders or extreme high blood pressure.

 

  • Many women who decide on second trimester abortions find themselves in the most tragic circumstances--making difficult decisions about life and health.  Under this bill these women risk their health because doctors are forced to use less safe abortion methods.

 

  • A woman's health matters.

 

This bill is the first attempt to ban all abortions in Wisconsin

 

The proponents of this bill, Right to Life Wisconsin, recently indicated that they supported Wisconsin’s criminal abortion statute that throws physicians and women in jail for having abortions for most every reason.

 

In Wisconsin Right to Life’s  January 7, 2008 news release, they stated:  "When the day comes that Roe v. Wade is overturned, Wisconsin will be one of the first states in the nation to once again protect unborn babies from abortion-as long as s. 940.04 remains in the statutes."

 

Wisconsin voters don't support politicians interfering in medical decisions

 

In a May 2007 poll of 600 likely voters, 74% agreed that lawmakers should not be wasting time by banning procedures already illegal under federal law and that medical decisions about abortion should be made by women, their families and their doctors without interference from politicians.  63% of voters said Government should not interfere with a woman’s access to abortion as opposed to 31% who thought the Government should pass more laws restricting access to abortion.

 

 


This information was compiled by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin.  For more information about legislation related to reproductive health, or to join our action alert network, log onto http://www.ppawi.org