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

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Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs threw reproductive freedom in Wisconsin into chaos due to confusion caused by an outdated 1849-era statute enacted before the Civil War and at a time when Wisconsin women did not have the right to vote.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