Three Anti-Choice Bills Endanger Women's Lives and Health
Health care advocates flood State Senate committee hearing to oppose Family Planning Ban, Right to Lie, and Teen Endangerment bills
Madison, WI – Dozens of activists, health care professionals, and women’s health advocates testified yesterday against three anti-choice bills being heard by the State Senate’s Judiciary Committee. The bills, overwhelmingly opposed by those testifying, would endanger young women’s lives, drastically slash family planning funding, and allow doctors to lie to patients about vital prenatal test results.
The anti-choice Republicans supporting these bills are making abortion more difficult and dangerous for women to obtain, while making it more necessary by blocking access to contraception. Rather than working to reduce the need for abortion by preventing unintended pregnancies, GOP legislators are trying to ban birth control on UW campuses, stop comprehensive sex education, and eliminate cost-effective family planning services.
The three bills heard yesterday all undermine women’s health, safety, and access to preventative care:
• SB 97, the Teen Endangerment Act, would further isolate young women and restrict their access to abortion services. Current law requires parental consent for young women to have an abortion, with very limited protections for suicidal or abused teens. This bill would eliminate the suicide exception, the incest and abuse exceptions, and eliminate the ability of clergy to assist a young woman in obtaining a judicial bypass. Thus, a young woman would have to get notarized permission from a parent even if she is in foster care, abused, or a victim of parental incest.
• SB 71, the Right to Lie Bill, would allow provider to lie about prenatal test results if they think the patient may have an abortion as a result of the findings. Under current law, patients have important legal rights if physicians withhold prenatal testing information, such as suing to recover some of the costs and medical expenses of caring for the child. This bill jeopardizes women’s health and denies patients their right to informed consent about medical decisions.
• SB 72, the Family Planning Ban, would increase the need for abortion by de-funding all state family planning clinics that abide by federal law and medical ethics requirements to provide non-directive all-options pregnancy counseling. The bill threatens Wisconsin's ability to receive more than $13 million in federal funds, and would leave 93,000 women without basic preventative care.
“Republican legislative leaders are strangely eager to restrict access to the very health care women and families need to be successful – from family planning services to pre-natal care,” said Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. “It defies common sense – they rail against the right to choose, even when a woman’s life is in danger, yet push legislation that makes abortion both more necessary and more dangerous for women.”
Studies show that with adequate funding and implementation, teen pregnancy prevention and comprehensive sex education programs can significantly reduce teen pregnancy and the need for abortion. Public family planning is extremely cost-effective, with every dollar spent on contraceptive services saving three public dollars.
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