Roys Rejects Republicans’ Attempted Rebrand

MADISON — Last week, Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Jessie Rodriguez circulated legislation attempting to paper over their anti-choice, anti-IVF record. They also underscored that Republicans have no idea how to solve problems — their answer to everything is just more tax credits.

Sen. Kelda Roys, who introduced the Building Families Act (SB 556) in October, issued the following statement in response to the latest Republican tax credit:

“Wisconsinites struggling with infertility deserve to be able to build their families without breaking the bank—including fertility treatments and fertility preservation.

“Unfortunately, anti-choice politicians have a long record of criminalizing pregnancy loss and opposing IVF and other infertility treatments. Over many years, anti-choice politicians like Sen. Marklein and Rep. Rodriguez have voted multiple times against measures to ensure access to IVF, including stripping our budget provision that would have enabled infertility treatments to be covered by insurance and voting against guaranteeing a right to IVF.

“In fact, they’ve even refused to support a bipartisan, non-binding resolution to honor Infertility Awareness Month. Their anti-family record is coming back to haunt them, and now these newly vulnerable legislators are scrambling to appear as though they don’t oppose IVF when they’ve spent years voting against it.

“As for the practicality of their politically-motivated legislation, just one cycle of IVF can cost between $20-30,000, and several cycles are often required to achieve pregnancy. This stunt will do nothing to help additional Wisconsin couples have children, except those who can already afford it.

“Wealth should not be a prerequisite to having children. The Building Families Act is a meaningful solution to help more couples build the family of their dreams.”

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.