Far-Right Politician Brad Schimel Delays Justice, Denies Healing for Survivors

MADISON, Wis. — In attempting to rewrite the history of his reprehensible failure to get justice for victims of sexual assault in Wisconsin, far-right extreme politician Brad Schimel is making a bold pitch to voters ahead of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election: Elect Brad Schimel—he doesn’t take crime against women seriously.

Throughout his career, Brad Schimel hasn’t treated crimes against women like rape or sexual assault with any urgency. Schimel allowed over 6,000 rape kits to pile up under his watch, delaying justice for victims as he fought behind the scenes to make matters worse and overturn the protections guaranteed in Wisconsin by Roe v. Wade for women seeking abortions after violent assaults.

Brad Schimel has delayed justice and denied healing to victims of rape and sexual assault in Wisconsin:

• In his first two years as attorney general, Brad Schimel tested only nine out of over 6,000 untested rape kits—allowing violent criminals to walk free as he delayed justice for survivors of sexual assault.
• Brad Schimel admitted that he was aware a massive backlog of untested rape kits existed as early as 2014, but instead of taking action to clear the backlog and get justice for victims, Schimel shopped around for a bargain price to farm out testing to private, out-of-state labs.
• After earning a pants-on-fire rating for lying about the rape kit backlog, Brad Schimel shifted gears and instead blamed survivors for the number of untested kits, suggesting “victim choices” had caused the backlog.
• And if a victim were to become pregnant after an assault, Brad Schimel supports forcing Wisconsin women to carry their abusers’ child to term, calling Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban that doesn’t include exceptions for rape or incest “valid.”

“Brad Schimel ignored rape and sexual assault as attorney general by refusing to process thousands of untested rape kits, and as a far-right politician today he wants to ignore rape again and force women to carry their abuser’s child to term,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Deputy Communications Director Haley McCoy. “Survivors of violent crimes like rape and sexual assault deserve healing, and they deserve justice—two things that far-right politician Brad Schimel has denied to survivors throughout his extreme career.”

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.