Two vastly different views of abortion rights are on display in Wisconsin. Vice-President Kamala Harris highlighted one approach during a speech in Waukesha County. Republican state lawmakers presented a much different take during a public hearing in Madison.
Abortions are once again being performed in Wisconsin. But there was that roughly 15-month halt between June 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in the Dobbs decision, and last September, when Planned Parenthood said it would again offer abortion services at clinics in Milwaukee and Madison.
Planned Parenthood made that announcement not long after a Dane County judge ruled that an 1849 law that conservatives claimed made illegal almost all abortions in Wisconsin did not apply to consensual abortion.
Vice-President Harris referred to the initial interpretation of the 1849 law during her speech to hundreds of people Monday at a union training center in Big Bend.
"Eighteen-forty-nine! Before women could vote, before women could hold elective office. Before, many women could even own property. In a state whose motto is 'Forward!,' these extremists are trying to take us backward. Well, we're not having that! We're not having that!" Harris said to cheers.
Harris promised that President Joe Biden would veto a national abortion ban if it ever would reach his desk and sign a bill that protects abortion access if Congress ever passes that.
But first, there is this year's presidential election, which may be a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump. Harris blames Trump for nominating three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe. Harris zeroed in on recent Trump comments that he's proud of his role.
"Proud that doctors could be thrown in prison for caring for their patients? That young women today have fewer rights than their mothers or grandmothers? How dare he !" Harris exclaimed to more applause.
After Harris's speech, WUWM spoke with several women who attended the event. Cindy Reilly said the vice president made all the important points.
"Specifically, why are men making decisions on women's bodies? That's the big one," Reilly said.
Milwaukee pre-natal care coordinator LaTonya Baker said Harris has inspired her.
"She got me extremely excited to keep doing the work. So, yeah, I'm ready to fight like she said," Baker emphasized.
One new fight abortion rights supporters have is against a bill introduced just last Friday in Madison. Republican lawmakers want to create a statewide referendum in April on whether to ban abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy.
During a lengthy State Capitol hearing Monday afternoon, Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) tried to get a key backer of the bill, Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie), to clarify whether there would be exceptions to 14 weeks in cases of rape or incest.
Subeck: "You mentioned you would support exceptions for rape or incest, yet I see no exceptions in this bill. Why didn't you include them? "
Nedweski: "I think in theory, Rep. Subeck if somebody is experiencing one of those unbelievable tragedies, and I know people who have, who have been in this situation, that a fourteen-week time frame is a long enough time frame to make a decision."
Subeck: "If you know you're pregnant within the first fourteen weeks."
Nedweski: "I have a really hard time believing that someone who doesn't know they're pregnant at 14 weeks wants to know. Maybe they just don't want to know that. I don't know that."
But the 14-week bill appears to be in trouble. Several anti-abortion groups testified against the measure, saying it would increase abortion, while Gov. Tony Evers (D) said he won't sign the measure, blocking the referendum from the April ballot.
But the bill's introduction and rush to hearing did give Vice-President Harris one more example with which to call the GOP "extremists" on abortion.
Editor’s note: A portion of the audio is from WisconsinEye.
