MADISON – Representative Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization:
“Like millions of Americans, I am heartbroken and furious today. With this unjust and unconscionable decision, the Court crushes the sacred right to control one’s own body and to choose for one’s self whether and when to have children. Today’s ruling drags us back to a more dangerous and cruel time – a time when women had to put their lives at risk to seek illegal abortions – a time I hoped our country would never see again.
“Just two days ago, Wisconsin Republicans callously refused to even consider repealing our state’s barbaric criminal abortion ban. Under this 1849 law, a woman would be forced to give birth to her rapist’s child, or a young girl her father’s. A mother with a nonviable pregnancy would be forced to bring that pregnancy to term, regardless of its impact on her health and safety. And a doctor would be thrown in jail for providing needed reproductive healthcare.
“While we await word from a court on whether this egregious law is now enforceable, one thing is clear – today’s decision tramples fundamental human rights and jeopardizes women’s health, our status as equal citizens, and even our lives. I am holding in my heart today the women of our mothers’ and grandmothers’ generations who died after being forced to seek out unsafe abortions. In their memory, and for the sake of those who are now at risk, we must not give up on the fight for safe and legal abortion in Wisconsin. I will do everything in my power to protect the right to choose”
