Support:
Wisconsin NOW supports the following bills. Please contact your legislators and encourage them to become a co-sponsor and vote in favor of each bill.
Birth Control Protection Act, AB 532
Seeks to ensure access to birth control and emergency contraception by requiring that pharmacists fill all safe and legal birth control prescriptions. The Birth Control Protection Act also clarifies that contraceptive methods are not included in the State's definition of abortion.
Status: Introduced in the Assembly.
Compassionate Care for Rape Victims, SB 166/AB 305
Requires hospital emergency rooms to provide rape victims with information about and access to emergency contraception.
Status: Passed in the Senate.
Parents' Right to Know, SB 339/AB 691
Requires that parents be notified by the school district if abstinence-only education is taught and student's do not receive instruction on preventing unwanted pregnancies and the sexually transmitted infections.
Status: Introduced.
Responsible Sex Education, SB 340/AB 690
Ensures that sex education taught in Wisconsin public schools is scientifically accurate and comprehensive, including information about abstinence and the prevention of unintended pregnancies and STIs.
Status: Introduced.
Oppose:
Wisconsin NOW opposes the following bills. Please contact your legislators and encourage them to refuse co-sponsorship and to vote against each the passage of each bill.
Community Endangerment Act, SB 403
Allows almost anyone to carry and conceal deadly weapons into most public places, included family planning clinics. This bill threatens the public's safety, as well as patient and health care providers' safety.
Status: passed in both the Assembly and the Senate.
Family Planning Ban/State Gag Rule, SB 72/AB 142
Eliminates state funding for family planning providers by prohibiting non-directive, all-options pregnancy counseling.
Status: passed out of Senate Labor Committee.
Prescription Denial, SB 155/AB 285
Allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense certain medications and contraceptive methods because of personal beliefs, even if the patient's health could be at risk as a result.
Status: passed out of the Senate Labor Committee.
Right to Lie, SB 71
Allows health care providers to lie to women about the results of prenatal tests if the health care provider believes the information will lead to the woman choosing to terminate the pregnancy.
Status: Passed out of Senate Labor Committee.
Teen Endangerment Act, SB 97/AB 175
Further restricts teen's access to abortion services by requiring parental permission, even if the parent is deceased, no longer the legal guardian or abusive, or if the teen is a victim of incest or suicidal. The Teen Endangerment Act also requires that the signature on the permission form be notarized, making the family's decision public rather than a private health care decision.
Status: Passed in Assembly. Passed our of Senate Labor Committee.
UW Birth Control Ban, AB 343
Would ban health care providers at UW health care centers and those working on UW property from prescribing, dispensing or advertising birth control to adult female students.
Status: Passed in Assembly.
