ICYMI: Democrats Hold Roundtable Highlighting Their Fight for Reproductive Freedom
MADISON, Wis. — Yesterday, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, and State Senate candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin held a roundtable discussion with voters in the 8th Senate District about the perilous state of reproductive freedoms in Wisconsin under a Republican-controlled Legislature.
Speakers shared how Republicans like Duey Stroebel have proven time and again that they will not protect our access to reproductive care including abortion, IVF, and birth control. Speakers also highlighted Republican threats to womens’ reproductive freedoms in Wisconsin and discussed the importance of electing candidates like Jodi Habush Sinykin this November who will fight for reproductive health care.

State Senate candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin: “My opponent Duey Stroebel leads Republican attacks on women’s reproductive care. […] He is the most extreme legislator when it comes to women’s health care in the history of Wisconsin. Duey Stroebel has spent the last decade in the Legislature working to make the lives of women and their families more difficult. Here are some of the ways he has tried to strip women of their freedoms: As you have heard, he voted against repealing Wisconsin’s archaic 1849 abortion ban, he helped introduce and pass legislation that made doctors who provide abortions liable to criminal prosecution, he co-sponsored an amendment to the Wisconsin constitution that would grant fetuses personhood and give them the same rights as pregnant women. This is important because, as we heard and saw in Alabama, this would deprive women and families of opportunities for IVF here in Wisconsin. […] He was the only member of Wisconsin’s Senate that opposed a bill that sought to expand postpartum care for mothers from 60 days to 365 days. Meanwhile, he also voted against a bill that would establish a right to contraception. So according to Duey, women don’t have the right to contraception, but once they get pregnant and give birth, they also don’t have the right to postpartum care. […] So bottom line, Duey Stroebel is too extreme for our 8th Senate District. I am committed to flipping this district blue and fighting on behalf of women.”
Dr. Kathy Hartke: “We saw a 20% increase in death threats to doctors after the Dobbs decision passed, and a 229% increase in stalking incidents. Not only does this cause unnecessary distress to doctors, but it also deters the brightest students from joining our profession. OB-GYN residency applications in Wisconsin—we have three residency programs—dropped by 8% in 2023 and an additional 10% in 2024. They don’t want to come to our state, and we know if you train in our state you are likely to stay in our state. Now Menomonee Falls closed their birth center because all their OB-GYNs left. They closed the birth center here in this city. I just heard last week that they are going to close Ozaukee’s birth center, and also Elmbrook Memorial Hospital’s birth center. We are losing birth centers right and left, and we are having an exodus of doctors from our state. It’s not just women who need pregnancy care—if you need to have a pap smear, or you need to have a pelvic exam for a complication, or you need to have surgery, you may not be able to get it because there aren’t going to be enough doctors.”
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