Wisconsin governor vetoes 'born alive' legislation and other abortion measures

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin's Democratic governor vetoed four abortion bills Friday, a day after Republican lawmakers made a show in the Capitol rotunda of formally sending them to him.

“Everyone should have access to quality, affordable health care, and that includes reproductive health care,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement. “Politicians shouldn’t be in the business of interfering with decisions made between patients and their health care providers."

Republicans said they had hoped Evers would adopt the measures and held a public ceremony Thursday to send the bills to him in hopes that it would draw attention to the legislation.

One bill would have required lifetime prison sentences for doctors if they did not provide medical care to babies who were born after attempted abortions.

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“I’m incredibly saddened, though not surprised, that Gov. Evers has chosen to ignore the voices of Wisconsinites from all over the state who support these pieces of legislation,” said a statement from the Assembly majority leader, Republican Jim Steineke. “As a father, conservative, and legislator, I will continue fighting for those who don’t have a voice and ensuring our unborn receive the protections they deserve.”

The other bills would have banned women from seeking abortions because of the sex or disability of a fetus; cut off the last bit of government funding abortion provider Planned Parenthood gets for non-abortion services; and required doctors to tell women they could continue a pregnancy if they acted quickly after taking the first dose of a two-drug regimen that causes abortion.

The Republican-controlled Assembly and Senate passed the bills in recent weeks, with all Democrats against them. Evers promised to veto them even before they got through the Legislature.

Republicans focused most of their attention on Assembly Bill 179, which they call "born alive" legislation.

It is similar to bills introduced in Congress and around the country drafted in part in response to Kermit Gosnell, a doctor who ran an abortion clinic in West Philadelphia who was convicted of murder in 2013 for killing babies after botched abortions.

Republicans said it should have gotten broad support because it dealt with what happens to babies once they are born and did not directly restrict abortion.

Democrats said the measure was unneeded because it is already a crime to not provide care to an infant. They said the legislation and debate around it made it appear such instances are far more common than they are.

The attempt to advance abortion legislation in Wisconsin comes as other states pass more stringent restrictions, including one in Alabama that would ban almost all abortions, and measures in half a dozen other states that would prevent them after about the sixth week of pregnancy. Those laws are facing legal challenges.

Evers vetoed the package of bills a day after GOP leaders and abortion opponents held a rally in the Capitol rotunda demanding the governor approve the measures.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate President Roger Roth signed the bills at the rally, a formality that sent the legislation to Evers. Usually, lawmakers sign the legislation in private, but they used it this time to give themselves a bully pulpit.

“I would ask that you join me in demanding that Governor Evers listens to us – he listens to the people of Wisconsin – and that Governor Evers signs these bills,” Vos said at the rally.

Hundreds of abortion opponents filled the first floor of the Capitol in support of the bills.

In veto messages, Evers wrote that the bills interfered with a doctor’s relationship with his or her patients.

“I object to the political interference between patients and their health care providers, especially this bill’s requirement that physicians inform their patients of a medical alternative that is not evidence-based,” Evers wrote in vetoing the bill regarding what doctors would have to tell women when they take abortion pills. “Politicians should not require medical providers to inform patients of inaccurate and misleading information.”

In vetoing the bill that would prohibit women from seeking abortions because of a fetus’ race, sex or disability, Evers wrote that the provisions in the bill “perpetuate harmful stereotypes and put women at risk by making reproductive health care less accessible.”

Follow Patrick Marley on Twitter: @patrickdmarley.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin governor vetoes 'born alive' legislation and other abortion measures