Governor Walker signs bill ending abortion coverage for state employees
April 3, 2018
Madison, WI – Governor Walker signed legislation Tuesday that prohibits elective abortion coverage in Wisconsin’s public health insurance plans. With the enactment of Assembly Bill 128 into law, Wisconsin taxpayers will no longer pay for state employees’ abortions.
“Pro-Life Wisconsin is grateful to Governor Walker for signing into law a bill that respects the consciences of Wisconsin taxpayers who oppose public funding of abortion,” said Dan Miller, Pro-Life Wisconsin State Director. “Government must not force us to participate in the killing of our preborn brothers and sisters with our state tax dollars,” said Miller.
Abortion - the direct, intentional killing of a preborn child - is not health care. In poll after poll, Americans overwhelmingly say they oppose taxpayer-funded abortion. Politico and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a poll in September 2016 showing that a majority of likely voters, 58 percent, opposed the use of Medicaid funds to pay for abortion. Similarly, a July 2016 Marist poll found that 62 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion.
“We thank Governor Walker and Assembly and Senate Republicans for persevering in their ongoing effort to end taxpayer funding of abortion in our state,” said Matt Sande, PLW Legislative Director. “We especially thank the bill’s authors, Senator Dave Craig and Representatives André Jacque, Ron Tusler and Janel Brandtjen. We must fully end taxpayer funding of abortion in Wisconsin. It’s bad enough that child killing is legal. At the very least, taxpayers should not be forced to fund it,” said Sande.
CONTACT:
Matt Sande, Legislative Director
Cell: 262.352.0890
Email: [email protected]
NOTE: Assembly Bill 128 incorporates the exceptions for rape, incest, and the life-of-the mother found in Wisconsin’s abortion funding prohibition (Wis. Stat. 20.927), as does the current law ban on abortion coverage in our state health insurance exchange. Pro-Life Wisconsin opposes these exceptions, but when it comes to public funding of abortion, any proactive step to stanch the flow of tax dollars for abortion coverage is welcomed.
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