MADISON, Wis. — Yesterday, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, and State Senate candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin held a roundtable discussion with voters in the 8th Senate District about the perilous state of reproductive freedoms in Wisconsin under a Republican-controlled Legislature. 

Speakers shared how Republicans like Duey Stroebel have proven time and again that they will not protect our access to reproductive care including abortion, IVF, and birth control. Speakers also highlighted Republican threats to womens’ reproductive freedoms in Wisconsin and discussed the importance of electing candidates like Jodi Habush Sinykin this November who will fight for reproductive health care.

Watch the press event here and see what speakers had to say, in part, below:

Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez: “After the federal protections fell with the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Wisconsinites were forced to live under an 1849 abortion ban, and it left patients experiencing dire complications, few good options for life-saving care, and doctors have faced very real risks of prosecution. […] Before I was Lieutenant Governor, I have spent many years within health care, I am a registered nurse, and I know firsthand that the government has no business being within that exam room. And so, Republicans in Madison are desperate to get into that exam room and they want to make sure that women do not have the freedom to make their own decisions.”

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein: “I saw firsthand that Duey Stroebel will take any opportunity he can to vote against reproductive choice […] He voted against bills that would establish the right to contraception. This year we had a bill for a right to contraception that he voted against. We want to codify IVF—he voted against that. He’s weirdly concerned about what choices women and their doctors make, and even to a shocking degree. […] So while Republican politicians in Madison refuse to restore abortion access, Governor Evers, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, and my Democratic colleagues in the Legislature stand up and we are committed to fight for reproductive freedom every single day.”

State Senate candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin: “My opponent Duey Stroebel leads Republican attacks on women’s reproductive care. […] He is the most extreme legislator when it comes to women’s health care in the history of Wisconsin. Duey Stroebel has spent the last decade in the Legislature working to make the lives of women and their families more difficult. Here are some of the ways he has tried to strip women of their freedoms: As you have heard, he voted against repealing Wisconsin’s archaic 1849 abortion ban, he helped introduce and pass legislation that made doctors who provide abortions liable to criminal prosecution, he co-sponsored an amendment to the Wisconsin constitution that would grant fetuses personhood and give them the same rights as pregnant women. This is important because, as we heard and saw in Alabama, this would deprive women and families of opportunities for IVF here in Wisconsin. […] He was the only member of Wisconsin’s Senate that opposed a bill that sought to expand postpartum care for mothers from 60 days to 365 days. Meanwhile, he also voted against a bill that would establish a right to contraception. So according to Duey, women don’t have the right to contraception, but once they get pregnant and give birth, they also don’t have the right to postpartum care. […] So bottom line, Duey Stroebel is too extreme for our 8th Senate District. I am committed to flipping this district blue and fighting on behalf of women.”

Dr. Kathy Hartke: “We saw a 20% increase in death threats to doctors after the Dobbs decision passed, and a 229% increase in stalking incidents. Not only does this cause unnecessary distress to doctors, but it also deters the brightest students from joining our profession. OB-GYN residency applications in Wisconsin—we have three residency programs—dropped by 8% in 2023 and an additional 10% in 2024. They don’t want to come to our state, and we know if you train in our state you are likely to stay in our state. Now Menomonee Falls closed their birth center because all their OB-GYNs left. They closed the birth center here in this city. I just heard last week that they are going to close Ozaukee’s birth center, and also Elmbrook Memorial Hospital’s birth center. We are losing birth centers right and left, and we are having an exodus of doctors from our state. It’s not just women who need pregnancy care—if you need to have a pap smear, or you need to have a pelvic exam for a complication, or you need to have surgery, you may not be able to get it because there aren’t going to be enough doctors.”

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