NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Statement on One Wisconsin Now’s Lawsuit against Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth
For immediate release
September 7, 2010
NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Statement on One Wisconsin Now’s Lawsuit against Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth
NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Executive Director Lisa Subeck released the following statement in response to the lawsuit filed today by One Wisconsin Now against Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth.
“Today’s lawsuit filed by One Wisconsin Now against Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth reveals emails exchanged between Southworth and Senator Glenn Grothman’s staff regarding the Healthy Youth Act. Senator Grothman was among the most vocal opponents of the Healthy Youth Act, which sets standards for sex education programs to ensure students receive comprehensive, medically accurate, and age-appropriate information about sexuality and the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
According to the lawsuit, Southworth sent a copy of his memo to area school districts threatening prosecution of teachers who comply with the Healthy Youth Act to Grothman’s staff and the next day received an email from the staff member indicating she had forwarded the memo to the members of an advocacy group. The lawsuit claims that Southworth did not include these emails in his April 16 response to an open records request by One Wisconsin Now. Instead, he waited to reveal the emails until July 19, one day after a group seeking his recall would have had to file a sufficient number of signatures to force a recall election. The content of the emails, the involvement of Senator Grothman’s staff, and timing of the emails’ eventual release, as indicated by the lawsuit, confirms that Southworth’s baseless threats were nothing more than an attempt to advance his anti-choice and anti-contraception political agenda. Threatening to prosecute our school teachers for complying with state law is beyond ridiculous, and Southworth’s claims about age-appropriate, comprehensive sex education are patently false.” For more information, contact Lisa Subeck at (608) 287-0016. ###
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