In the face of anti-abortion action throughout the country, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is cheering Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ decision to uphold abortion rights.
Evers vetoed five bills on Friday that would have made abortion more restrictive in FFRF’s home state of Wisconsin. One of the bills would have imposed criminal penalties on doctors in extremely rare abortion circumstances. The other bills were about reducing funding for abortion, prohibiting abortion in certain situations, providing false information about abortion pill reversal procedures, and allowing third parties who objected to an abortion to press for damage claims. Many of these bills were rejected by Evers two years ago.
In a statement on Twitter and in a press release, Evers wrote, “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again today: As long as I’m governor, I will veto any legislation that turns back the clock on reproductive rights in this state — and that’s a promise.”
FFRF commends this unabashed position in favor of reproductive rights in the wake of extreme anti-abortion measures throughout the nation and a possible reversal of Roe v. Wade.
However, there is still much work to be done. For example, Wisconsin has a pre-Civil War abortion ban on the books criminalizing abortion care. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion would automatically be criminalized in Wisconsin. That’s why we need to call on our Wisconsin legislators and demand that they pass the Abortion Rights Preservation Act, which would repeal this criminal abortion ban. And we need to ask U.S. senators across the country to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify abortion rights.