Political Gain Or Moral Necessity? Lawmakers Disagree On Impetus For Abortion Bill

The state Legislature’s final approval of a 20-week abortion ban comes just days before Gov. Scott Walker is expected to announce his bid for the presidency — a fact that Democratic lawmakers say is no coincidence.

Republicans, however, insist that politics had nothing to do with the timing of the legislation’s passage.

State lawmakers in the Assembly passed the abortion bill Thursday, in a session that began less than 12 hours after the chamber had approved the state budget in the early hours of Thursday morning. Many of the representatives were undoubtedly still tired after the long night.

Milwaukee Democratic Rep. Mandela Barnes questioned the rush.

“Everybody’s quiet. We just got done with the budget. Usually when you vote on with the budget, you go on recess. But for some reason we had to come back to debate this,” Barnes said.

The governor wasn’t there, but his name came up a lot. Walker was mentioned repeatedly by Democrats, like Rep. Tod Ohnstad of Kenosha, as the force behind new abortion restrictions.

“This is just one more conservative talking point to be used by the governor in his bid for the extreme right wing of the presidential primaries,” Ohnstad said.

Madison Democratic Rep. Terese Berceau criticized the governor for backing one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country after softening his tone on abortion during his recall election.

“So he was willing to — I’ll be polite and say obfuscate the truth, or obfuscate — and say that he believed it was a woman’s decision. To get votes. How crass is that? How crass is that? Now he wants more votes because he’s running for president,” Berceau said.

But Rep. Joel Kleefisch would have none of it. The Oconomowoc Republican said the abortion legislation has more to do with faith than politics.

“The other side has accused of us being political. I’ll tell you this isn’t political, for us it’s personal,” said Kleefisch. “Many of us do believe God decides when we come into the world and when we leave it.”

Some lawmakers got personal during the debate, including Markesan Republican Rep. Joan Ballweg:

“When my son and daughter-in-law called and said, ‘Mom and dad, guess what? We’re pregnant. It’s a fetus.’ No, they said ‘We’re going to have a baby.’”

But opponents of the bill said it could force women to carry a fetus that’s destined to die because of abnormalities.

“This is inserting ourselves into a difficult situation,” said Rep. Jill Billings, a La Crosse Democrat. “Less than 1 percent of abortions where the women’s health is in danger, very little possibility of a baby surviving at all — we should not be inserting ourselves into that situation. This is between a mother and her family and her doctor. We need to stay out of this.”

Supporters of the bill contended that politicians have an obligation to get involved. Kewaskum Republican Rep. Jesse Kremer, one of the measure’s sponsors, said lawmakers needed to stop what he called cruelty.

“I implore all of you in this chamber today: If there’s any possibility, any possibility at all, that a preborn child can truly feel pain at five months, are you willing to take that chance?” Kremer said. “This is not a red or blue issue, this is an issue of humanity and morality.”

After declaring it wasn’t a political issue, Kremer voted for the ban, as did his Republican colleagues. Democrats all voted against it. The debate touched on medicine, faith and women’s rights, but the vote itself fell along party lines.