GOP Allies Continue Assault on Birth Control
Pro-Life Wisconsin to Celebrate Anti-Freedom, Anti-Sex Education Extremist
Madison, WI – Continuing its long war to outlaw contraception and limit personal freedom, Pro-Life Wisconsin has announced plans to honor an extremist who personifies the current agenda of Wisconsin’s Republican legislative leaders to restrict liberty for adults across the state.
“The right wing’s stealth campaign to limit our medical options and access to information is slowly being exposed to the light of day,” said Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. “Having an extreme opinion is one thing, but using your friends in the Republican Party to legislate your extremism is completely unacceptable, and frankly un-American.”
Pro-Life Wisconsin, which was threatened last week with a slander lawsuit for claiming hospice workers “murdered” a severely injured Wisconsin Marine injured in Iraq, has announced it would honor Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, at its fall meeting.
(http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=50657&ntpid=3; Capital Times, 8/16/05)
Euteneuer’s Human Life International describes itself as existing to “fight the evils of abortion, contraception, sex education and family breakdown.” (http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/3844.htm; Human Life International Mission Statement on Charity Navigator)
Euteneuer gained some notoriety after leading the failed effort to prevent the natural passing of Florida’s Terry Schiavo after she fell into a vegetative state. Despite the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress’ unprecedented intrusion into the Schiavo family’s tragedy, her simple wish to die with dignity was ultimately preserved. (Photo of Euteneuer at Schiavo Hospice: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/news/archive/2005/04/01/national/a072947S92.DTL&o=0;3; Associated Press, 4/1/05)
Other extremist positions and statements of Euteneuer include:
• Declaring that “the contraceptive mentality leads to more direct attacks on human life” (http://nudccw.org/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=7565&sec_id=14177; Catholic Exchange, 7/19/01)
• Referring to contraception and sex education as “sins” (http://nudccw.org/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=7565&sec_id=14181; Catholic Exchange, 7/19/01)
• Comparing stem cell research to “Nazi experiments” (http://www.hli.org/defending_dr_james_dobson.htm; “In Defense of Dr. Dobson,” 8/15/05)
• Calling those who carry out living will directives of loved ones “killers” and “agents of the culture of death” (http://www.cogforlife.org/schiavofathertom.htm; Remarks at Woodside Hospice, 3/12/05)
• Referring to citizens of developing nations as “uneducated, unsophisticated” and describing the United Nations’ work to prevent the spread of AIDS in the developing world as “committing a tri-fold sin” (http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/2001Feb/feb22nl1.htm; Daily Catholic, 2/22/01)
• Saying couples who use contraception “begin to hate children as burdens, they stigmatize and positively revile large families” and blaming the birth control pill for “family breakdown” (http://www.worldcongress.org/wcf3_spkrs/wcf3_euteneuer.htm; Remarks to World of Congress Families III, 3/29/04)
“Wisconsinites must unite against the right-wing’s ‘Freedom from Freedom’ agenda,” said Roys. “It will be interesting to see how many Republican legislators attend this event to get their marching orders. The ninety-five percent of women who need birth control at some point in their lives should be watching.”
This session, Republican state legislators have already embraced a number of the extremist positions advocated by Pro-Life Wisconsin and Euteneuer, backing bills to prevent University Health Services from prescribing contraception to women (UW Birth Control Ban, AB 343); allow medical personnel to abandon patients and deny care (Patient Abandonment Bill, AB 207); permit pharmacists to withhold medication based solely on personal ideology (Prescription Denial Bill, SB 155/AB 285); eliminate critical family planning funds that prevent unintended pregnancy (Family Planning Ban, SB 72/AB 142) and shield doctors from liability for intentionally withhold prenatal test results from parents (Right to Lie Bill, SB71). For more information, visit www.prochoicewisconsin.org and click on “Political Updates.”
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