The Quickie: Wisconsin Senate Passes Anti-Abortion, Anti-Trans Measures
For Immediate Release: Oct. 19, 2023
Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.
In today’s Quickie: Wisconsin passes 3 bills restricting healthcare, Planned Parenthood provider named a finalist for the EU’s top humanitarian award, and an increase in reproductive coercion post-Dobbs.
WISCONSIN SENATE PASSES ANTI-ABORTION, ANTI-TRANS MEASURES: This week, Wisconsin’s Senate majority passed three bills as part of their “Embrace Them Both” package to limit abortion access, including increased funding for crisis pregnancy centers and making changes to the state’s 1849 abortion ban.
The passage of the bills comes as Attorney General Josh Kaul’s lawsuit over the 1849 ban, which was the basis for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to resume care, is moving through the courts. The bill aims to make the 1849 law apply specifically to abortion, which would likely restrict abortion access again in the state.
Lawmakers also voted along party lines to restrict gender-affirming care for minors and barring transgender athletes from playing on girls’ teams, which was met with opposition from the public.
Governor Tony Evers is expected to veto all of these measures. Reminder: restricting abortion rights is not popular.
Read more in News From the States.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD PROVIDER NAMED FINALIST FOR TOP EUROPEAN UNION HUMANITARIAN PRIZE: This week, the European Parliament recognized Dr. Colleen McNicholas as a finalist for the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought of 2023. As chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, Dr. McNicholas has worked tirelessly to advance abortion access, becoming a national leader in her field. With this nomination, Dr. McNicholas joins international abortion advocates Justyna Wydrzyńska of Poland and Morena Herrera of El Salvador. This marks the first time since the Prize was created in 1988 that abortion rights advocates have been nominated and are among the finalists. Dr. McNicholas said in a statement:
“As far right politicians try to ban abortion across swaths of the US and internationally, I’m thankful for the European Parliament’s nomination and spotlight on this critical issue of human rights…My advocacy work is directly informed by the thousands of patients I have had the privilege of caring for. It is those stories that fuel my enduring commitment to the fight for just and equitable access to abortion. Alongside the many fierce advocates across the globe, I will not stop fighting until everyone who needs it has access to safe and legal abortion.
Past Sakharov Prize winners include human rights activists, journalists, lawyers, civil society activists, writers, mothers, peace activists, long-serving prisoners of conscience, as well as future Noble Peace Prize winners, including Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai.
Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
REPRODUCTIVE COERCION DOUBLES POST-DOBBS: According to new data from the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH), reports of domestic abuse involving reproductive coercion have nearly doubled since the overturn of Roe. This can include forced sexual activity, as well as restricting partners from contraception use or reproductive care. As abortion access has drastically limited across the country, with some states even attempting to pass abortion “travel bans,” it’s incredibly difficult for victims to receive the reproductive care that would allow them to leave abusive relationships. As Marium Durrani, the vice president of public policy at the NDVH, explained:
“If you cannot make these decisions, it could mean unfortunately that you have to stay in an abusive situation longer than you want to. It could impact your escape, it could mean that potentially you’re forced to have a child with someone you don’t want to have a child with.”
This increase in reproductive coercion is particularly dangerous because pregnancy increases the chances of being harmed or killed by a partner. In the United States, homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant people. The statistics are even more harrowing for Black women, who are disproportionately affected by both abortion restrictions and domestic violence. The NDVH has stressed that for survivors, abortion access can be the difference between life and death. “When you take away any of those options,” Durrani said, “then you put survivors in much more dangerous situations.”
Read more in The 19th