Women Are Watching

State Spotlight

Wisconsin
State at risk

State “At Risk”

Wisconsin

The 2010 election shifted the Wisconsin State Legislature a full 180 degrees on women’s health. With longtime family planning foe Governor Scott Walker at the helm, anti-women’s health politicians and their political allies wasted no time turning the clock back on sex education, birth control, and women’s access to preventive care at Planned Parenthood. They’ve simply gone too far in Wisconsin — and in response, Wisconsin women are giving radical politicians the boot.

Why We’re Watching Wisconsin

When he became governor, Scott Walker wasted no time rolling back women’s health and rights in Wisconsin. Just months after taking office, he signed a state budget that eliminated state funding to a third of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s health centers — centers that provide 12,000 women with access to high-quality, preventive health care, including lifesaving cancer screenings, annual exams, HIV testing, birth control, and STD prevention and treatment.

 

But Scott Walker and his anti-women’s health cronies haven’t stopped there. Without any notice, without a transition plan — and against the wishes of local county health departments — for purely political reasons Scott Walker kicked Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin out of a breast cancer screening and care coordination program.

 


 

 

And that’s not the end of it. Scott Walker even supports bringing back abstinence-only programs to Wisconsin public schools.

Every step of the way, Wisconsin women have been pushing back. For months on end, during cold Wisconsin winter days and nights, women marched and rallied at the state capitol to protect their health and their rights.

 



When they couldn’t change the minds of these elected officials, Wisconsin women organized to change the face of the legislature.

Two of the most extreme anti-women’s health state senators were recalled in an unprecedented statewide effort to hold extreme politicians accountable for their anti-family policies. In both cases, pro-choice women senators were elected to stand up to Scott Walker and his allies who want to undermine women’s health.

And now Scott Walker himself may face a historic recall election, with more than one million people signing petitions to give him a pink slip.

The tide is turning in Wisconsin, and they’ve only just gotten started. In Wisconsin, women are watching — and they are giving anti-women’s health politicians the boot.


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KEY ARTICLE:

Sex ed, abortion on lawmakers' minds
Associated Press, 1/29/12

Scott Walker Kills Women's Cancer Screening Program For Political Gain
Rick Ungar, Forbes, 12/17/11

WAW Blog Posts on Wisconsin RSS

More from the Blog

Wisconsin by the Numbers

48

Hours during a special "Jobs" legislative session, during which seven anti-women's health proposals were advanced by the Walker administration and Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature.

87

Percent of Wisconsin voters who support requiring comprehensive sex education, including information about both abstinence and contraception, be taught in schools.

140 Million

Dollars saved each year by preventing unintended pregnancies through Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Family Planning Program. The BadgerCare Family Planning Program, through which 57,000 people receive preventive health care, remains at risk through Governor Walker's budget.

27

Percent of all new HIV infections in Wisconsin are diagnosed in young people between the ages of 15 and 24. Yet Governor Walker and Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature support ending comprehensive sex education in schools.


72,000

Patients Planned Parenthood serves each year in Wisconsin, providing birth control, annual exams, breast and cervical cancer screens, pregnancy tests and education, and STD and HIV tests. Additionally, Planned Parenthood provides education and training for over 6,000 teens, parents, and young adults in the state.