From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— Dem lawmakers and reproductive rights advocates are pushing for passage of legislation to codify a statutory right to contraception, warning access is at risk decades after a U.S. Supreme Court decision finding married couples have the right to use contraception.
Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, and Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, co-authored the legislation, which would guarantee a right to contraception, such as oral birth control, intrauterine devices and emergency contraceptives. That includes the right to use and obtain contraceptives and for health care providers to give them to patients.
Subeck at yesterday’s Capitol press conference said she can remember the days when people believed Roe v. Wade, a U.S. Supreme Court decision that secured abortion rights nationally for nearly 50 years, would never be overturned.
“It was impossible. It was unthinkable. I stood up here at one of our Roe anniversary press conferences and said, ‘I hope we have a next anniversary,’ and I had colleagues and others who said to me, ‘Oh, come on. That’s not possible, right?’” Subeck said. “And here we are today, and Roe has been overturned.”
She said legislation to establish a right to contraception is critical because “birth control could be next.”
Subeck and other speakers pointed to conservative Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in the court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
In the opinion, the conservative justice argued the high court “should reconsider” several past rulings, including the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut decision overturning a Connecticut law that had barred married couples from using contraceptives and establishing a right to privacy.
Sunday was the 61st anniversary of the Griswold decision.
Dr. Barbara Hostetler, a retired OB-GYN, said the decision allowed her to have open and honest conversations with patients about contraception, “without fear of government interference.” She said politicians who haven’t acted to protect birth control access in the face of threats are complicit.
“Silence and inaction are tantamount to complicity,” Hostetler said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, noted Republicans in the Senate rejected an amendment from Democrats seeking to pass legislation to guarantee contraceptive access and criticized efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and other clinics.
Spokespeople for GOP legislative leaders did not return requests for comment.
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