Madison, Wis. – Today legislators introduced the Abortion Rights Restoration Act, new and historic legislation centered on a patient’s fundamental human rights and the freedom to bodily autonomy in Wisconsin. Having led efforts to restore and protect reproductive freedom in Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin (PPAWI) was proud to join in support.
“This bill is about protecting a patient’s ability to decide for herself what kind of reproductive health care she needs,” said Tanya Atkinson, President of PPAWI. “This year, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is celebrating 90 years, and one thing we know at Planned Parenthood is how important it is to organize and commit to long term strategy when it comes to reproductive health advocacy. This historic bill is the next step in protecting and securing full reproductive freedom for people in Wisconsin.”
The core provisions of the bill make significant policy improvements in Wisconsin law and address many of the barriers patients and providers have faced. PPAWI has been advocating to eliminate these barriers as part of the Restore, Protect, Expand strategy for reproductive freedom.
The bill includes the following policies:
- A statute protecting each person’s right to make their own reproductive health care decisions.
- Revising statutory language so informed consent provisions for reproductive health care align with informed consent requirements for all other health care and ensuring that the definition for medical emergencies in abortion care centers patients and providers in decision-making instead of political preferences.
- Removing barriers to medication abortion, including allowing patients to have telehealth visits to receive abortion care and expanding the scope of practice for Advanced Nurse Practitioners to include abortion care.
- Prohibiting the state from banning health insurance coverage for abortion care in public employee health plans and those plans sold in the state health care exchange.
- Repealing the 1849 criminal provisions.
- Repealing several statutory sections limiting access to abortion that have previously been held unenforceable by a state or federal court.
“Patients trust health care providers, and they trust Planned Parenthood. Laws that insert politics into the doctor’s office instead of focusing on medical best practice and individual patient experiences harm us all. When passed and enacted, this legislation will ensure that a patient has control over their health care and our laws will have fewer requirements that get in the way of patient centered, medically appropriate care,” said Atkinson.
Patients interested in learning more about the services Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin provides may visit ppwi.org to learn more or make an appointment.
