MADISON, Wis. – With Tim Michels revealing he may ban emergency contraception and go even further than the 1849 ban to restrict access to health care, WisDems Chair Ben Wikler, Sen. LaTonya Johnson, and Dr. Kristin Lylerly provided an update on the Republican gubernatorial candidates’ extreme anti-choice agenda.

Rebecca Kleefisch and Tim Michels are in a sprint to the right – vying to be the most extreme, ultra-MAGA candidate. Both Kleefisch and Michels want to ban almost all abortions in Wisconsin, have been backed by organizations aiming to ban contraception, and do not support exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

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Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler: “Both of the leading Republican candidates are extremists who are pushing dangerous, unpopular policies that will ban abortion and curtail access to contraception in Wisconsin. Governor Evers continues to stand as a brick wall against attacks on reproductive freedom, but these ultra-MAGA candidates are dangerous to people seeking abortion care in our state. And now, it’s clear with Tim Michels, people seeking emergency contraception.”

State Senator LaTonya Johnson: “Republicans once again see women as second class citizens – incapable and unable of making important decisions regarding our own bodies, even in cases of rape, and incest. On November 25, 2014, I joined Colleen Henry in an interview with a mother of an 11-year-old girl who was raped in foster care. This was a child that the state was mandated to protect and provide a safe environment, and we failed. That mother and her child had to make the hard, difficult decision of aborting that pregnancy. Had this [1849] law been in place, that 11-year-old child would have been forced to bear her rapist’s child.”

Dr. Kristin Lyerly, MD, MPH, Board-Certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist: “We as a medical community, we’re doing our best to take care of our patients right now and it has not been easy, but Republicans are making it nearly impossible. Gubernatorial candidates Rebecca Kleefisch and Tim Michels agree that victims of rape and incest should be made to carry the pregnancies of their attackers. To be clear, Rebecca Kleefisch and Tim Michels support forced birth in cases of sexual assault and rape. In fact, Kleefisch has gone so far as to say that these victims should turn ‘lemons into lemonade’ by continuing these unwanted pregnancies, emphasizing how shallow she is, and how little she understands about people. …Tim Michels is also in this camp. His statements about abortion and health care are beyond naive. In fact, Tim Michels is so out of touch that he has proposed a ban on emergency contraception. Does he even know what emergency contraception is? Or what it does? I mean, it appears that Tim Michels even wants to force us to ovulate, that’s how emergency contraception works. It stops ovulation. Come on Tim.”

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