Madison, WI – Today, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Foundation launched a joint media campaign to educate the public about the threat of abortion once again becoming illegal in Wisconsin.

The first phase of the “How Much Time Should She Do?” campaign features radio and online ads targeting legislators in Milwaukee, Green Bay and La Crosse who support Wisconsin’s Criminal Abortion Statute (Wis. Stat. § 940.04) and who voted last Thursday to preserve criminal penalties for victims of rape. 
 
“Wisconsin voters do not want to go back to a time when abortion was a crime,” said Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Foundation.  “We are committed to educating the public about these legislators’ anti-choice votes – they want abortion to be a felony even if a woman’s health is in danger, even if she is a victim of rape.” 

“It is outrageous that these politicians want to prevent doctors from providing patients with a medical procedure necessary to protect a woman from grave, long-lasting damage to her physical health,” stated Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin Executive Director Lisa Boyce.  “Similarly unbelievable is their failure to protect women from being treated like criminals and threatened with prison time under our state’s existing criminal abortion law.” 

If abortion is outlawed, women and their doctors will be criminals – regardless of the circumstances.  Efforts to clarify the conflict in our current Criminal Abortion Statute to ensure rape victims are not threatened with prison time were rejected by 54 Assembly representatives. 
 
The media campaign poses the question to these anti-choice legislators: If abortion becomes a crime again in Wisconsin, how much prison time should women serve for having one?  The radio and online ads are the first step in a multi-faceted public  campaign, the first such campaign ever jointly undertaken by NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Foundation and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. 

CONTACT: Kelda Helen Roys, 608-213-4502, or Andrea Gage, 414-213-3717

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Background

In recent weeks, anti-choice, anti-health care legislators in the Assembly have cast a series of astonishing votes around the Wisconsin version of the Federal Abortion Ban (AB 710/SB 416), sending a chilling message to Wisconsin women that their health doesn’t matter and abortion should be a crime. 

These politicians voted against an exception to the bill that would have allowed a doctor to protect a woman whose physical health was in grave danger (AA1).  Equally troubling was the failure of an amendment 2 (AA2) to protect rape victims from being penalized for having an abortion under the Criminal Abortion Statute, § 940.04. 
 
Wisconsin’s Criminal Abortion Statute makes it a felony to have or assist a woman in having an abortion, even when the health of a woman is at risk, and in cases of rape and incest. The statute provides criminal penalties for women and physicians that could be enforced immediately if Roe v. Wade were to be reversed — a very real threat given the current composition of the U.S. Supreme Court.

AA2 would have clarified a conflict in our statute around the stated penalties for women and their doctors who violate § 940.04.  But Representatives Ott, Honadel, Van Roy and Huebsch were among the anti-women’s health care legislators who voted against the amendment.  Contrary to the claims of anti-choice groups, the conflicting criminal abortion statutes will not protect women from prosecution for seeking abortion.  The only way to ensure that no woman is imprisoned for having an abortion is to repeal § 940.04.
 
That vote means if Roe is overturned, Wisconsin rape victims and doctors could be threatened with prison and treated like criminals, without further clarification of the law.
 
As a result of their votes, Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Foundation ask those legislators who oppose women’s access to abortion, including victims of rape and incest, and if a woman’s health is at risk, how much time should she do?
 
A series of polls including a February statewide poll of 500 likely voters conducted by Lake Research Partners and a May 2007 Mellman poll of 600 likely voters indicated a majority not only want to repeal Wisconsin’s extreme and antiquated Criminal Abortion Statute, but they would also question any legislator who opposed abortion and supported criminal penalties for women.  74% of likely voters indicated that medical decisions about abortion should be made by women, their families and their doctors, without interference from politicians.  69% of voters strongly supported repealing the Criminal Abortion Statute immediately to ensure abortion remains legal following the possible reversal of Roe; only 32% believe it should stay on the books.
 


Radio Ad Script
FEMALE #1 ANNOUNCER
How much time should she do?

FEMALE #2 ANNOUNCER
If State Representative Ott gets his way, abortion would be illegal even if the woman is a victim of rape.

FEMALE #1 ANNOUNCER
How much time should she do?

FEMALE #2 ANNOUNCER
Under Wisconsin’s criminal abortion law, supported by Representative Ott, rape victims who have an abortion could be threatened with prison.

FEMALE #1  ANNOUNCER
Representative Ott, we have a question.  How much time should she do?
Abortion is a personal decision, not a criminal act.

FEMALE #2 ANNOUNCER
Learn more at ppwi.org or prochoicewisconsin.org. Paid for by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Foundation.  
 
Listen to the Representative Ott (R-Mequon) ad.
Listen to the Representative Honadel (R-South Milwaukee) ad.
Listen to the Representative Carl Van Roy (R-Green Bay) ad.
Listen to the Assembly Leader Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) ad.