Politifact Wisconsin’s top campaign season claims on abortion, other hot-button issues

It’s been a busy, fraught and thorny campaign season in Wisconsin as national issues seep into state and local politics.

Perhaps none has held center stage as much as the abortion debate. On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, scrapping federal protections for the procedure and turning its legality back to the states. In Wisconsin, an 1849 law bans abortion in almost all cases.

Across the country, Democrats were quick to pounce on their counterparts across the aisle for chipping away women’s rights, while Republicans tried to paint Democrats’ positions on abortion as radical. That’s pretty much exactly how it played out in Wisconsin’s two key races – for governor and for U.S. Senate.

But inflation, crime and education were also top-of-mind for candidates and voters alike. We’ve compiled our top claims that we fact-checked on these issues here ahead of Tuesday's midterm election.

1. Restoration PAC says Mandela Barnes supports killing “preemies” – “infants born prior to 37 weeks of pregnancy”

The Illinois-based conservative group’s inflammatory online ad, aimed at attacking the lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate candidate’s position on abortion, is wrong out of the gate. A “preemie” is a baby born prematurely. Barnes has obviously not indicated support for killing babies that have already been born.

The group claimed Barnes supports abortion up until the time of birth, which is also off-base. Barnes has pushed for the codification of Roe v. Wade, but even under that law, Wisconsin and many other states had viability restrictions that prevented abortion after a certain time in pregnancy.

When we reached them for comment, their spokesperson said they removed one word from the ad to make clear it was referring to abortion. They didn’t respond to a request for the updated ad, but the change alone is evidence that the original claim is wildly wrong.

We rated it Pants on Fire.

2. Tony Evers says “Tim Michels wants to defund public education – calling it ‘the definition of insanity’ to continue to fund public schools.”

Michels has hit Evers hard on education issues because of Evers’ background – the governor started as a teacher, became a principal and eventually served as Wisconsin’s superintendent of education before nabbing the state’s top job.

The Evers campaign hit back, echoing the inflammatory phrase “defund the police” to describe what they say Michels would do to public education in the Badger State.

Here’s the problem: Michels said it was insane to continue increasing funding for public schools without better results, not insane to continue funding schools at all. It’s a small linguistic error that makes a big difference in how we rated the claim.

As for whether Michels wants to defund public education? He has signaled support for widespread expansion of the state’s private school voucher program, which would – without bumping up funds for public schools – actually take money away from them, because of how the funding is structured. He’s never said he wanted to defund public education wholesale.

We rated this claim Mostly False.

3. Mandela Barnes says “Ron Johnson just came out in favor of a federal abortion ban.”

Johnson had long supported and eventually cosponsored a bill that would ban abortion nationally after a fetus reaches 20 weeks. But Barnes’ claim, which doesn’t include the timing element, suggests Johnson wants a federal ban on all abortions at any point during a pregnancy.

His use of the word “just” tips the scale further. Here, Barnes implies that the June 24 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and throwing abortion protections back to individual states changed Johnson’s mind on the issue. But Johnson has supported the 20-week limit since at least 2012.

In August, Johnson said he thinks the legality of abortion should be left up to the states, suggesting a referendum in Wisconsin would iron out the issue. He did add that Congress could examine what states had decided and set a limit after the fact.

We rated this claim Mostly False.

4. Alliance for Common Sense says Tim Michels' family foundation "funded an organization that tracks women when they get near abortion clinics … he wants to treat women like they're the criminals."

Michels’ parents’ foundation, which he was a trustee of until 2019, gave $20,000 to the Veritas Society, a Milwaukee-based digital marketing company that captures cell phone data from women entering and leaving abortion clinics and targets anti-abortion advertisements and content to them.

But the location-tracking the Veritas Society does is for targeted advertising, not to give to law enforcement as evidence of a crime. Though unpleasant, dozens of companies track people’s locations and use them for that sort of advertising.

The ad from the Alliance for Common Sense, which is backed by the Democratic Governors’ Association, begins with a description and imagery of an ankle bracelet, saying such bracelets are “a way for police to track dangerous criminals.” But there’s no evidence that the Veritas Society continues tracking people’s location after they leave the vicinity of an abortion clinic, as an ankle bracelet would.

Finally, Wisconsin’s law banning abortion doesn’t criminalize the person who gets one, only the doctor who performs it. The Alliance for Common Sense did say in response that by that measure, Michels wants to treat women doctors like criminals – but that wasn’t the main thrust of the ad.

We rated this Mostly False.

5. Tony Evers’ campaign says if a 12-year-old girl became pregnant because of rape or incest, “Tim Michels would force her to deliver the baby.”

Tim Michels’ position on abortion has received a lot of scrutiny in the leadup to the election, particularly his stance on making exceptions to Wisconsin’s abortion ban if a person becomes pregnant from rape or incest.

Such exceptions are widely popular, with more than 90% of respondents to a recent state poll supporting them. But Michels had long opposed them, even saying at a Sept. 6 GOP event in Dane County that he was being pressured to change his view but wouldn’t.

Later that month, he backpedaled, telling a conservative news show host that he would sign legislation that would add those exceptions if it was brought to him.

But his campaign insisted that his personal views on the subject hadn’t changed and he would in no way advocate for those exceptions to be added. It also appears unlikely that the Legislature would introduce such a bill – which means the status quo, that an abortion in those circumstances would be illegal, remains.

Thus, this claim from Evers’ campaign is just about on the mark.

We rated it Mostly True.

6. National Republican Senatorial Committee says “Mandela Barnes came out in favor of abortion up until the moment of birth.”

This is a long-used Republican talking point, and there are some issues with it. First and foremost: Abortions moments before birth just don’t happen. Data show about 1% of the country’s abortions occurred at or after 21 weeks, with the vast majority of those in the 1% coming during the 22nd or 23rd week. Abortions very late in pregnancy often involve a health crisis, which Wisconsin’s law makes an exception to allow.

Second, the Republican group was not able to point directly to any statements in which Barnes says what they are claiming he said. They pointed to his support for the codification of Roe v. Wade – but even under that law, Wisconsin had restrictions that limited abortion after a certain gestational age.

In fairness, Barnes has been less than clear on his precise position on abortions later in pregnancy, saying those decisions should be left to a woman and her doctor. After several requests from PolitiFact Wisconsin to clarify his position, a spokesperson said he does not support abortion up until birth but instead seeks to codify Roe v. Wade.

Despite his fuzziness, the NRCS claim paints a picture of Barnes recently stating he supports abortions very late in pregnancy, which definitely did not happen.

We rated this Mostly False.

7. Tim Michels says former Gov. Scott Walker let zero convicted felons out on parole, while Gov. Tony Evers is close to 1,000

Parole has become a central focus in the final days of the gubernatorial campaign as Republican challenger Michels continues to go after Evers on crime.

But this claim widely missed the mark. The parole commission under Walker issued 1,397 paroles from 2011 to 2019, according to an analysis of Department of Corrections data. The parole commission for the first four years of Evers’ term is at 895.

Some of those paroles are required by law, while others are discretionary. Our fact-check found that the parole commission under Evers has approved slightly more discretionary pardons, at 51.5%, than Walker, at 47.5%.

Michels mixed up pardons – which eliminate the legal impact of a felony conviction years after someone has served their sentence – with parole, which happens while a person is still serving their sentence. Walker issued zero pardons during his tenure, while Evers had issued more than 600 as of August.

Still, Michels’ campaign continues to conflate the two, which makes this claim way off base.

We rated it Pants on Fire.

8. Ron Johnson says Mandela Barnes “supported a 20% increase in the gas tax.”

Gas prices have been straining Wisconsinites’ pocketbooks over the last few months, and the candidates know it. Johnson pointed the finger at Barnes for it, saying prices would have jumped even higher under a proposal from the Evers administration.

In 2019, Evers – with Barnes as his lieutenant governor – did unsuccessfully propose an 8-cent per gallon gas tax increase to rebuild and repair more roads. It would have been about a 24% increase, so Johnson’s camp is on the mark on that point.

But they left out another part of the administration’s plan: eliminating the minimum markup on motor vehicle fuel, a law that bans selling fuel below cost to attract customers. According to news reports, that could have saved drivers as much as 14 cents per gallon.

So there was a proposed hike, but also a proposed savings.

We rated this one Half True.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Politifact Wisconsin’s top campaign season claims on hot-button issues