Manitowoc panel, 40 Days for Life put abortion center stage ahead of November midterms
MANITOWOC - Most people didn’t expect abortion to be a main issue in the November midterms.
For 50 years, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade upheld abortion rights throughout the country.
That changed June 24 when the Supreme Court ruled the U.S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee the right to abortion.
As a result of Roe v. Wade being overturned, the issue has returned to lawmakers at the state level. In Wisconsin, it brings the return of an 1849 law that had never been removed from the books but couldn’t be enforced under Roe v. Wade. The Wisconsin law bans nearly all abortions, except to save the life of a pregnant person.
Now, both people for and against abortion in Manitowoc and throughout the state want voters to be aware that the way they cast their ballots this November could have an impact on the future of abortion rights in the state.
To that end, two events coming up in Manitowoc will put the abortion rights issue center stage. One event is a panel discussion organized by League of Women Voters of Manitowoc County this Thursday at Manitowoc City Hall and the other is the annual 40 Days for Life campaign that will run Sept. 28-Nov. 6.
Here's what to know about the events.
A Manitowoc panel discussion will address the state of women's health and reproductive rights.
Titled “The State of Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights in Wisconsin,” Thursday's panel discussion led by the League of Women Voters of Manitowoc County will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at Manitowoc City Hall, 900 Quay St.
According to a news release for the event, the purpose of the panel discussion is to help answer questions about where laws stand today and what that means for women seeking abortions in the state.
The free event is open to the public and can be attended in person or by visiting facebook.com/lwvmanitowoccounty.
Panel discussion lineup is as follows:
Dr. Maureen Crowley, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Manitowoc County, will give an introduction and serve as moderator;
Hannah S. Jurss, assistant attorney general with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, will provide information about Wisconsin abortion laws, current litigation, and potential legal implications for women and health care providers;
Dr. Dorothy Skye, OB/GYN, will address the impact of the change in abortion laws on women’s health and women’s health care providers; and
Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters, will present the league’s position and current plan of action.
Shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision, Cronmiller released the following statement:
“A majority of Wisconsinites want safe, legal abortions for themselves, their family and friends. This will affect us all, but the barriers will be most staggering for people who are low-income, people of color and those living in rural areas … we cannot idly sit by as our state backslide and courts and elected officials ignore the will of the voters. The courts should protect our rights, not take them away — especially after decades of precedent.
"We now look to our state legislatures and state Supreme Court justices as the right to abortion will come down to state-by-state decision-making," Cronmiller's statement continued. "The League will continue to call on our elected officials to represent their constituents. We will advocate, organize and work to ensure abortion access and reproductive freedom for all.”
40 Days for Life in Manitowoc focuses on vigil, prayer, fasting and outreach to end abortion.
Those who support strict abortion bans will be hosting the annual 40 Days for Life campaign in Manitowoc from Sept. 28 through Nov. 6.
The event, which is sponsored by the Manitowoc Prayerful Walkers and is in its ninth year on the lakeshore, seeks to raise awareness about ending abortion through highly focused efforts like prayer and fasting, community outreach and peaceful vigils.
The Manitowoc campaign will take place on public sidewalks at Calumet Avenue and South 30th Street, near the Manitowoc County Planned Parenthood offices.
Planned Parenthood has stopped performing abortions since the Supreme Court ruling went into effect.
Vigil hours will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and organizers ask participants to sign a statement of peace. Free signs are provided. Those interested in participating can sign up at https://www.40daysforlife.com/en/Manitowoc, call 920-860-5581 or email LeaderMPW4Life@ilj.com.
The event was started in 2014 in Texas. To date, more than 1 million people have participate in 61 countries. Around 19,000 churches have participated in more than 6,500 local campaigns since the effort began.
Shawn Carney, president of 40 Days for Life, said in a statement in June: “Unlike most culture battles in our country right now, Christians in the pro-life movement are winning. We are winning hearts and minds like no other issue while at the same time we have the most pro-abortion government in the history of the United States. The motivation to do something to save more lives and close more abortion facilities has never been higher.”
Abortion has spiked as a key political issue since Roe was overturned.
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found 61% of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. About 37% say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. The survey also found Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are more likely than Republicans and those who lean right to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases (80% vs. 38%).
Pew researchers found a modest gender divide in views of whether abortion should be legal: 58% of men and 63% of women say it should be legal in most cases. Within the parties, 80% of both left-leaning men and women say most abortions should be legal and 36% of Republican men and 39% of Republican women say the same.
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Polls also show the Supreme Court’s decision caused the issue of women’s health and abortion issues to spike as an important issue to voters in the November elections.
A survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found the issue has become increasingly important to Democratic voters. Just 3% said it was a top concern in 2020 compared to 13% in 2021 and 33% today. The poll also found that in interviews before the ruling, 18% of Democrats mentioned abortion or women’s rights compared with 42% after.
Among Republicans, 11% identified abortion or women’s rights as a priority, a slight increase from before the Supreme Court overturned the Roe ruling.
In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is up for re-election in November. He says the state should reject its 19th-century ban on almost all abortions. He also co-filed a lawsuit arguing that newer Wisconsin laws supersede the 1849 law, such as a 1985 law banning abortion only after fetal viability.
Evers has vetoed abortion laws sent to him by Republican lawmakers in the past, including a bill that would hold doctors criminally accountable for performing abortions.
His Republican opponent, businessman Tim Michaels, said he favors strict abortion bans.
Contact reporter Patti Zarling at 920-606-2586 or send an email to pzarling@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @PGPattiZarling.
This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Wisconsin abortion laws focus of Manitowoc panel, 40 Days for Life
