MADISON, WI – Legislative Republicans continued to prioritize advancing harmful abortion bans by holding a public hearing on SB 923 today. The Texas-inspired bill would ban abortions after 6 weeks, before most people even know they are pregnant, and includes a $10,000 bounty reward for people to sue anyone who provides abortion care. This bill comes after every Republican member of the Legislature refused to support a bill to repeal WI’s 172-year-old law that criminalizes abortion at every stage of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the woman.
Statement from Mike Murray, Executive Director, Planned Parenthood Advocates of WI
“SB 923 is an extreme proposal that is closely modeled after Texas’s abortion ban, which has resulted in lasting harm to thousands of real people who have been either been denied access to abortion care or forced to desperately rearrange their lives to travel a great distance under crushing personal financial cost to access care. Many patients and health care providers have courageously shared stories of the harm they have experienced or witnessed during litigation to challenge the Texas law.
It is hard for me to imagine how anyone entrusted with elected office would believe that the tragedy that continues to unfold every day in Texas is the future that women in Wisconsin deserve. Our family members, friends, and neighbors—should not be denied the ability to safely access time-sensitive health care.
We have a choice to support a different vision of Wisconsin’s future, which is also supported by the vast majority of Wisconsinites. That vision is the opposite of SB 923 and represents a future where everyone has the ability to make their own health care decisions and access the health care they need – including abortion.”
