The governor thinks that he can hide from his extreme record on women’s health, repeatedly distancing himself from his own history of authoring and supporting anti-women legislation.
The truth is that for more than a decade he has authored, promoted and signed into law ideologically-driven legislation aimed to block women’s access to crucial healthcare services.
One of Walker’s top priorities when he took office was cutting funding for Planned Parenthood, which thousands of Wisconsin women rely on as their only healthcare provider. Planned Parenthood’s twenty-seven health centers across the state provide birth control, cancer screenings, annual exams, and sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment to over 73,000 patients each year.
In addition, Scott Walker’s administration ended Planned Parenthood’s contract for The Wisconsin Well Woman Program, a program created under Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson to ensure that women who lack health insurance can still access critical preventative health screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and multiple sclerosis at no cost.
Scott Walker tries to downplay the impact of his decisions on women’s health, stating that these are a handful of bills that he has signed, but thousands of women in the state who have been blocked from receiving the crucial health services they need would surely disagree.
“It’s shameful that Scott Walker continues to endanger women’s health in Wisconsin as he courts fringe Tea Party Republicans for his inevitable presidential run,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Communications Director Melissa Baldauff said Wednesday. “Scott Walker definitely has some explaining to do to the women of Wisconsin in 2014.”
