With Roe v. Wade hanging in the balance, Sarah Godlewski steps up criticism against Ron Johnson over abortion issue
Democratic U.S. Sen. candidate Sarah Godlewski was in Washington, D.C., last week when news broke of a leaked draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
Godlewski rushed to the steps of the Supreme Court, posted a photo and video to Twitter and then returned two days later to cut a commercial, taking on the abortion issue and slamming Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.
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More: Here are Wisconsin’s abortion laws and how they would be affected by Roe v. Wade decisions
On Wednesday, Godlewski, the state treasurer, stepped up her criticism of Johnson and the potential court decision as she convened a discussion in Milwaukee.
"I never thought that this would happen in my lifetime. We're moving backwards," said Godlewski, who has been endorsed by EMILY's List, a group that backs women candidates who support abortion rights.
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Johnson has said he believes life begins at conception and that if the high court draft becomes the final decision he would "agree with that outcome." He later said Wisconsin's near-total ban on abortions under an 1849 law would not last long if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
On Wednesday, Johnson told the Wall Street Journal he expected abortion would be a nonissue in the campaign.
“It might be a little messy for some people, but abortion is not going away,” Johnson said, suggesting people in Wisconsin would still have options, such as driving across state lines to Illinois. “I just don’t think this is going to be the big political issue everybody thinks it is, because it’s not going to be that big a change.”
Godlewski countered, "For someone to say this is not going to be an issue, you're completely disconnected from Wisconsin.
"If he actually had conversations with women, if he had conversations with families, he would understand these are things they are facing," she said. "What do Wisconsinites not want, politicians making health care choices for them. And Ron Johnson is saying, let's just throw liberty out the window, let's have politicians make those kinds of health care choices for women."
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sarah Godlewski steps up criticism against Ron Johnson over abortion
