Wisconsin governor vows to veto abortion restriction bills passed by state lawmakers
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) on Tuesday vowed to veto abortion restrictions the state assembly passed last week, saying that government should allow women to make their own health care decisions.
“We shouldn’t be limiting the right for women to make their own healthcare decisions,” Evers said on Twitter. “That’s why I’ll veto the bills passed by the Assembly last week if they arrive on my desk. It’s time to listen to women. #StopTheBans“
We shouldn’t be limiting the right for women to make their own healthcare decisions. That’s why I’ll veto the bills passed by the Assembly last week if they arrive on my desk. It’s time to listen to women. #StopTheBans
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) May 21, 2019
The comments from Evers come as GOP-led legislatures around the nation move to place further restrictions on access to abortion. The Wisconsins state Assembly last week passed multiple measures that would follow suit.
One of the bills the body passed was the so-called “born alive” measure, which requires abortion providers to give care to babies who survive abortion attempts, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. Doctors would reportedly face prison time if they did not provide necessary medical care.
Evers said earlier this year that he believed the state’s existing protections and criminal penalties addressed this issue.
The legislation passed largely along party lines, with one Republican voting against it. GOP leaders said that the state Senate expects to vote on the legislation in June, WPR noted.
The state Assembly passed three additional measures related to abortion, including one that bans a woman from having the procedure based on the fetus’ race, sex or defects.
The Assembly also voted to eliminate the remaining bit of public funding that is available for Planned Parenthood, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Evers’ stance against the measures comes just a week after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed into law a measure that bans abortion in virtually all instances, including in cases involving rape and incest. Abortion would only be legal in the event that it’s necessary to save a woman’s life.
Other states, including Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio, have passed laws that ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, something that generally occurs within six weeks, often before a woman knows she is pregnant.
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