Gov. Evers Releases Statement on Two-Year Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today released a statement regarding the two-year anniversary of the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationto overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, ruling the U.S. Constitution confers no right to an abortion. The decision upended the constitutional right to abortion that Wisconsinites and Americans relied upon for nearly 50 years.

In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Wisconsin women spent over a year experiencing a functional near-total abortion ban, even in cases of rape or incest. During that time, according to Planned Parenthood of Illinois, Illinois saw a 600 percent increase in Wisconsin patients.

According to the Marquette University Law School Poll, for a decade now, 60 percent of Wisconsinites, on average, have consistently said they support safe, legal access to abortion in all or most cases. Gov. Evers and Democrats have been working to protect and defend reproductive freedom for Wisconsinites for the past five years, including in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs to overturn Roe, stripping millions of Wisconsinites and Americans of the reproductive rights they had relied upon for nearly five decades.

Gov. Evers released the following statement:

“Two years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe, ending a constitutional right to abortion that Wisconsinites and Americans across our country had depended upon for almost a half-century. Millions of Wisconsin women woke up two years ago and learned they’d just become second-class citizens overnight with fewer rights than they had the day before and fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers had before them,” said Gov. Evers. “Because of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, Wisconsin women spent over a year experiencing firsthand what it’s like to live in a state that bans nearly all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest—a situation no one should ever be forced to face.

“We said two years ago that the decision to overturn Roe would not be the end of the attacks on reproductive freedom in America, and, unfortunately, we were right. Republican lawmakers and their allies across our country have spent the last two years pushing to roll back access to emergency contraception, birth control, and abortion care and medication while blocking efforts to protect access to in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments. Today, because of these Republican-backed attacks on reproductive freedom, millions of women face significant barriers getting the reproductive healthcare they need, if they can access it at all.

“Every Wisconsinite should be able to access the reproductive healthcare services they need when they need them, and that includes in vitro fertilization, birth control, and emergency contraception.

“As long as I am governor, I will veto any bill that takes away Wisconsinites’ reproductive freedom or makes reproductive healthcare any less accessible than it is today. Period. And I will never stop fighting to make sure Wisconsinites have the freedom to make the deeply personal reproductive healthcare decisions that are right for them without interference from politicians who don’t know anything about their life circumstances, values, or responsibilities—that’s a promise.”

GOVERNOR TO CONTINUE DEFENDING REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM IN WAKE OF DOBBS

Gov. Evers believes Wisconsinites should be able to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions without interference from politicians who do not know anything about their faith, family, or circumstances.

Over the course of the past five years, the governor has vetoed several bills passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature, including several that would have restricted access to abortion, inserted politics into the personal and private conversations between patients and their healthcare providers, and made it harder for doctors to provide medically accurate information and treatment. Many of these bills also sought to limit healthcare options for people seeking basic, necessary care, such as pregnancy care, cancer screening and prevention, sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment, and wellness exams.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs threw reproductive freedom in Wisconsin into chaos due to confusion caused by an outdated 1849-era statute enacted before the Civil War and at a time when Wisconsin women did not have the right to vote.

Prior to the Dobbs decision, Gov. Evers joined legislative Democrats in calling on the Legislature to repeal Wisconsin’s 1849-era statute. When a leaked draft of the U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs revealed that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe, Gov. Evers called the Legislature into a special session to push for legislative action to protect reproductive freedom. However, Republican legislators gaveled in and out of the special session in moments without any discussion or debate.

Additionally, after the Dobbs decision, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) erroneously suggested Wisconsin voters could challenge the state’s 1800s-era statute directly through a binding statewide referendum—something he has repeatedly since suggested, despite Wisconsinites having no pathway to put binding referenda on the ballot in Wisconsin. Gov. Evers again called the Legislature into a special session to create such a pathway for Wisconsinites to directly challenge and repeal the state’s 1849-era statute, but Republican lawmakers gaveled out of the special session without consideration or debate.

Days after the Dobbs decision was released, Gov. Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit to clarify that Wisconsin’s outdated, total criminal ban on abortion is unenforceable. In July 2023, a court ruling in Gov. Evers’ litigation challenging the state’s outdated abortion statute determined the 1849-era law does not prohibit abortions in Wisconsin, enabling healthcare providers to resume providing abortion care in Wisconsin last year.

In December, Wisconsin Republicans announced their intention to pursue a 14-week abortion ban, which would have stripped Wisconsin women of some of the freedoms that had only recently been restored to them. Gov. Evers, who has spent more than five years fighting every Republican effort to limit access to reproductive healthcare, slammed the move in a video message to Wisconsinites. Legislative Republicans introduced this legislation, Assembly Bill 975, in January, and days later, on the 51st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, Republicans hosted a public hearing on the bill, during which the bill was criticized for having no exceptions for rape or incest.

In March, as promised in his 2024 State of the State address, Gov. Evers announced he had directed the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to issue a standing order to ensure BadgerCare Plus members can access the new daily over-the-counter oral contraception pill, called Opill, available now with no out-of-pocket cost to them. Last summer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Opill, making it the first daily oral contraceptive pill for use without a prescription.

This announcement built upon Gov. Evers’ commitment to expand access to over-the-counter daily contraception and emergency contraception for Wisconsinites on BadgerCare. Earlier this year, on the heels of his 2024 State of the State address, DHS issued a standing order to ensure BadgerCare Plus members have direct access to over-the-counter emergency contraception. The order allows BadgerCare Plus members to get over-the-counter emergency contraception from any Wisconsin Medicaid-enrolled pharmacy under their state coverage without a prescription from their doctor and with no out-of-pocket cost to them.

Attacks on reproductive freedoms have continued across the country in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. In the interceding two years, efforts backed by Republican lawmakers and their allies have been underway nationwide to either obstruct protections for or further restrict access to abortion, birth control, emergency contraception, in vitro fertilization, other fertility treatments, and the safe, effective, and widely used abortion medication, mifepristone.

Gov. Evers will continue to veto any bill that takes away Wisconsinites’ reproductive freedom or makes reproductive healthcare any less accessible in Wisconsin than it is today.

NEW NATIONAL DATA ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE ACCESS AFTER DOBBS

According to a new study from the Center for American Progress, more than one in three women between the ages of 15 and 44 today live in states that ban abortion at six weeks or less, despite many women not being able to access a clinical appointment until well past that six-week ban.

According to the same study, women across the United States have faced increased barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare since Roe was overturned. Travel time to access abortion care has increased 300 percent since the Dobbs decision two years ago. The Center for American Progress’ study, as well as an analysis conducted previously, underscore how longer travel times are disproportionately harming women of color and women in poverty who may not be able to afford to travel out of state to obtain the healthcare they need.

An online version of this release is available here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.