MADISON, Wis. – Today’s special session called by Governor Evers seeks to repeal the extreme 1849 law that bans abortion in almost all cases. Sadly without even considering the impacts an abortion ban has on health and pregnancy care, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu has already announced his intention to gavel in and out of the session. Gubernatorial candidates Rebecca KleefischTim Michels, and Kevin Nicholson also came out against the special session.

If elected, Rebecca Kleefisch, Tim Michels, Kevin Nicholson, and Tim Ramthun will all seek extremely restrictive policies on abortion access, despite the fact that 61% of Wisconsinites believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

  • Kleefisch told Milwaukee’s Fox 6 that she supports a total ban on abortion in Wisconsin even in cases of rape and incest, and has previously opposed exceptions to protect the life of a patient, and once agreed that rape victims should “turn lemons to lemonade” by carrying a pregnancy resulting from their assault.

  • Michels said during his run for Senate in 2004 that it was “not unreasonable” to force rape victims to give birth to the children of their attackers.

  • Nicholson told an advocacy group he would ban abortions “in all cases” without exceptions and once pledged to support an extreme “personhood” bill, which could criminalize fertility treatments like IVF.

  • Ramthun also told the Journal Sentinel that, “I am hardcore, 100% pro-life without exceptions.”

All four candidates have also been supported at some point in their political careers by Pro-Life Wisconsin, an extremist anti-abortion group that believes in banning abortion in all cases, and is now lobbying to remove exceptions for when a patient’s life is in danger from Wisconsin’s 1849 ban. The organization is even opposed to all forms of “artificial contraception.”

Governor Evers will continue doing the right thing to protect a person’s ability to make their own health care decisions. He is the last line of defense in Wisconsin on protecting access to abortion and has vetoed nine bills restricting abortion and reproductive health care pushed by Wisconsin Republicans.

“Republicans are poised to restrict access to critical health care and are proud of doing this,” said Hannah Menchhoff, Democratic Party of Wisconsin Rapid Response Director. “Even though most Wisconsinites support abortion access, Republicans would rather play partisan politics than listen to Wisconsinites. Rebecca Kleefisch, Tim Michels, Tim Ramthun, and Kevin Nicholson are too radical for Wisconsin.”

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