2021-2022 STATE LegislatiON

1. PROHIBIT VACCINE MANDATES/CHURCH CLOSURES:

The 2021-2022 state legislative session got off to a quick start with Pro-Life Wisconsin supporting legislation prohibiting Covid-19 vaccine mandates (both from state and local governments and private businesses) and church closures.

 The Personhood Alliance/Pro-Life Wisconsin vaccine ethics position 1) opposes the production and testing of vaccines using the remains of aborted human beings, and 2) opposes forced or coerced vaccination. For the many Wisconsinites who earnestly avoid any entanglement in the abortion industry, discriminating against them for refusing a vaccine produced from or tested using aborted fetal cells is repugnant – a total violation of conscience.

 Assembly Bill (AB) 1, the omnibus COVID-19 relief bill, reinforced our vaccine ethics position. AB 1 passed the Assembly and Senate. Governor Evers callously vetoed the bill in its entirety. In his veto message, the Governor highlighted the vaccine coercion and church closing provisions in the bill as the primary reason for his veto.

2. PROHIBIT VACCINE COERCION/DISCRIMINATION:

Pro-Life Wisconsin supported several bills prohibiting vaccine coercion against Wisconsin citizens. The Assembly and Senate passed AB 299, legislation prohibiting proof of vaccination for COVID-19 as a condition of receiving business and government services, and AB 316, legislation prohibiting the government from discriminating against any person based on whether the person has received a vaccine against COVID-19. Sadly, we anticipate Governor Evers vetoing these two bills. 

We are entering a time of unprecedented coercion. COVID-19 vaccination is required to engage in the daily activities of American life in many parts of the country, including our nation’s capital. Privileges for the vaccinated; punishments for the non-vaccinated. Such requirements are discriminatory and divisive, dividing citizens and families into “separate but equal” groups. One would think we are long beyond this type of segregation in America.

Persuasion is the way vaccine campaigns must be conducted, especially in America where our civil liberties are sacrosanct…where personal autonomy and medical informed consent are bedrock principles.

3. PROHIBIT UW MEDICAL RESIDENTS/FACULTY FROM PERFORMING ABORTIONS AT MADISON PLANNED PARENTHOOD:

Pro-Life Wisconsin worked with Sen. Andre Jacque to reintroduce legislation, Senate Bill (SB) 260, that would prohibit both UW System and UW Hospital and Clinics Authority employees from performing or assisting in the performance of abortions while in the scope of their public employment. The legislation would effectively end UW medical resident abortion training and UW faculty performance of abortions at the Madison Planned Parenthood abortion facility, a grisly arrangement that stains the reputation of Wisconsin’s public university system and flagship hospital.

 Sen. Jacque, chairman of the human services committee, held a committee vote. SB 260 failed by a vote of 2 to 3, with Sen. Joan Ballweg defecting and voting with the two pro-abortion Democrats on the committee to kill the bill. Sen. Ballweg’s NO vote was a major betrayal of the pro-life movement. We have been fighting for this legislation on and off for ten years and will continue to work toward its enactment.

4. PROHIBIT PHARMACISTS FROM PRESCRIBING CONTRACEPTIVES:

Pro-Life Wisconsin led the fight against 2021 Assembly Bill (AB) 36, legislation introduced in a misguided attempt to reduce unplanned pregnancies. The bill would have permitted pharmacists to prescribe and dispense hormonal contraceptive patches (the Patch) and self-administered oral hormonal contraceptives (the Pill) to persons 18 years of age and older. Currently, the Pill and the Patch may only be prescribed by a physician.

 Pro-Life Wisconsin opposes legislation in whatever form that makes hormonal contraceptives more easily accessible or widely available. Medical studies demonstrate that a significant percentage of unintended pregnancies are in women using contraceptives. Clearly, contraceptive use is not preventing unplanned pregnancies.

Hormonal contraceptives can cause pre-implantation chemical abortions. It is a medical fact that most if not all hormonal birth control drugs and devices, including the Patch and the Pill, can act to terminate a pregnancy by chemically altering the lining of the uterus (endometrium) so that a newly conceived child (human embryo) is unable to implant in the womb, thus starving and dying.

Although AB 36 passed in the Wisconsin Assembly, the Wisconsin Senate did not act on the bill and it died in committee, thus defeating this unworkable and dangerous legislation.

5. DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD (MEDICAL ASSISTANCE/ “MEDICAID”):

Pro-Life Wisconsin pushed legislation, Assembly Bill (AB) 528, authored by Rep. Janel Brandtjen, that would remove abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI), from the state Medical Assistance (MA) program. Over the last ten years the state of Wisconsin has consistently and substantially defunded PPWI of taxpayer dollars, including Title V and Title X family planning monies. Title XIX (Medical Assistance) is the last and largest public funding stream propping up Planned Parenthood, Wisconsin’s largest abortion provider.

Regrettably, a competing bill, Senate Bill (SB) 503, authored by Sen. Stroebel, made an explicit exemption for hospitals that perform abortions in the exceptional cases of rape, incest, and the life and health of the mother. Pro-Life Wisconsin worked to amend out these exceptions, but our amendment, authored by Rep. Chuck Wichgers, died for lack of support. AB 528 then died in committee, while SB 503 passed the Senate and Assembly and was vetoed by Governor Evers.

Pro-Life Wisconsin wants to fully remove our Medicaid tax dollars from all abortion providers, not just some. It is morally inconsistent to outlaw public funding of one type of abortion provider, but specifically allow it for another. It is a denial of equal protection to defund the killing of most preborn babies, but specifically fund it for some.

6. ESTABLISH CONGENITAL CONDITION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES:

Pro-Life Wisconsin strongly supported Senate Bill (SB) 592, authored by Sen. Patrick Testin. Known as the Prenatal Diagnosis Information Act, SB 592 would require physicians who administer prenatal or postnatal tests for congenital conditions to provide parents, upon a positive test result, with informative and supportive educational resources made available by the Department of Health Services (DHS). DHS would be required to provide current, evidence-based information about their child’s congenital condition that has been reviewed by medical experts and organizations specializing in that condition along with information on support programs and relevant resource centers.

The Senate and Assembly passed SB 592. Governor Evers failed to see the compassion and love this legislation brings to vulnerable parents and children and vetoed it. Should SB 592 have been enacted, it would have saved and transformed lives