Good morning everybody, thank you for being here bright and early at the Capitol.
We had a good session day yesterday and as most of you know as the legislative session
kind of gets into earnest we are focusing on the budget.
We are going through the process of course with public hearings and lots of internal
discussions as we begin to put our alternatives together to what Governor Evers offered in
his budget.
But there are other things that are also happening that are really important for Wisconsin that
we wanted to talk about today that are outside the budget.
So I'm going to start with Representative Kitchens who's going to talk about one of the proposals
we'll discuss today.
Okay good morning.
First I want to talk about the pharmacy access bill for birth control.
This is a bill that in the last two sessions we passed it through the assembly but it did
not get through the Senate.
So we're reintroducing it and we're very hopeful it will make it this time.
You know I think the cost of unplanned pregnancies in the United States is just staggering.
About half the pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned and of those 43% are awarded of
the women that choose to follow through with their pregnancy 68% are on welfare and it's
paid for by Medicaid.
That figures out to $336 for every woman of childbearing age in the United States that
we pay in tax money just for the deliveries and that doesn't even take into account all
the added expenses that so that these babies are much more likely to be premature and
low birth weights and that kind of thing and require you know ICU.
So you know and that's just the tip of the iceberg of the total cost of it.
It has a dramatic impact on the lives and the future earning potential of the affected
women.
Ten percent of the women that enroll in community college drop out because of pregnancies.
So I think when you think of the wasted potential there most of them never return to college.
So along with substance abuse unplanned pregnancy is the greatest contributor to generational
poverty.
Requiring physicians to prescribe birth control is a significant barrier for women to use
birth control effectively especially for women in poverty.
The medical community is nearly unanimous in their belief that birth control should be
over the counter.
In the past this bill had the support of nearly every medical group including the OBGYNs,
the family practitioners, the nurses, the pharmacists.
There are now 24 states plus the District of Columbia that use this model in prescribing
birth control.
Oregon was the first state to do it so we have the most data back from them and it has
proven you know definitely that it will reduce unplanned pregnancies and abortions.
So I think the bottom line is that as Republicans we don't want women to be faced with that choice
of having to abort and I think that this bill goes a long way toward that goal.
Thanks.
Well good morning everyone and thank you and I want to say thank you to Rev Kitchens
for bringing that bill back again with me I am the author in the Senate.
As we face challenges about workforce and work shortage especially in rural areas when
it comes to health care providers this is just a very important tool to allow women the
access to birth control so that they can plan their families when it makes the most sense
for them.
So I'm very grateful for that.
The second bill that we're introducing today is a bill to update the language about life
of the mother and to provide exceptions for rape and incest around abortion.
It's been a very it's a pathway so after the Dobbs decision happened last year a lot of
us sat down with our constituents, with medical providers, with the medical community and
talked about what is the best way for Wisconsin to proceed.
Where were your constituents at and when I had conversations with constituents they
want to make sure that if there are complications in the pregnancy if the baby is found to be
non-viable that they can access the health care that's needed to make sure that the
mother survives the pregnancy and that we can move forward.
In addition to that when it's a condition of rape or incest they want to have the option
of terminating the pregnancy you know I was very fortunate I had two very very healthy
pregnancies but I had a woman call my office probably about a month ago her and her husband
she was pregnant with their third child very much a baby that they wanted there was complications
in the pregnancy and the baby was non-viable the baby was dying.
In Wisconsin she was not allowed to deal with that situation she would have to wait
they would have to wait until her life was in danger now is that infection is that becoming
septic whatever the medical condition is their doctor advised them that it was not wise to
wait so her and her husband made the decision to leave the state of Wisconsin take off work
go to a neighboring state to terminate that pregnancy because the baby was not viable what
did that mean to them number one it was the tragedy of losing the child but then it was
the lost income from work the additional cost of traveling out of state and the financial
burden because now she's out of network so you have a young family with two children at
home wanting their third now with $4,000 additional debt plus the emotional stress of
losing that child that is not what we want for Republican that's not what Republicans
want for our constituency so the bill will be coming out today that updates the life of
the mother to deal with today's medical conditions and technology and then the exception for
rape and incest in the first trimester some of my colleagues that are here today are much
more versed in the medical profession than I am and I'm going to turn it over to Representative
Rose our right now for a follow-up thank you Senator Felskowski I am the lead author in
the assembly on this bill and I'd like to tell you a little bit about why I was willing
to do that as I went around the district during the last election I also heard from
people in my district about a rape and incest exceptions they were obviously upset about
the possibility of their young sister getting pregnant and being raped and having to deal
with that pregnancy I had physicians that were OBGYN people talk to me about some of
their dilemmas about how they would deal with a pregnancy in a similar situation to what
Senator Felskowski described people visited my office asking me to support rape and incest
exceptions and so I chose to do that is this an ideal bill no it's not an ideal bill because
we should be protecting all life but this is not an ideal world this is a world where bad
things happen tragic things happen horrific things happen to people we have 10 11 12 year old victims
of rape and incest very dangerous for them to carry a pregnancy to term it's it's in the best
interest to put these exceptions on there one thing that I would like to say is that because we
because I personally believe in life from conception to natural death it is important that we tell
women who are victims of rape and incest to support them if they choose to carry those
pregnancies to term I have had friends and family members who have been a victim of rape
not of incest but of rape and that pregnancy was carried to term there was support there
that baby was relinquished for adoption and I'm sure blessed the family in another state that
the baby was adopted into so I know there can be positive outcomes in rape situations where babies
are carried to term and then relinquished for adoption we need to make sure that those
supports are there for those women and I am part of some support groups that do that I really
appreciate senator kerfelskowski bringing the language of this bill forward I appreciate you
being willing to reintroduce your birth control over the counter prescribed by pharmacists I supported
that bill last year and will support that bill again this year this bill basically protects
victims who are in horrific situations and we want to support those people and this bill updates
the 1849 bill so that we are able to do that thank you very much for coming today
Good morning so within my life I wear many many hats and when I'm outside of this building I wear
the hat of a nurse practitioner as a nurse practitioner I represent patients throughout the state of
Wisconsin and as I speak for them I say this bill needs to be updated not the one that we speak
of today with incest but the statutes that we currently have in the state of Wisconsin I do
support this bill that senator felskalsy and representative rosar are putting out here today as well as
the rest of us as a nurse practitioner I have had patients come to my office that have been
survivors of rape and survivors of incest and when you're sitting in an office with these families
and with these patients your heart hurts for them when they are stuck in a situation where there
are not services available what do you say how do you assist these families how do you assist
these victims how do you assist these survivors and so the legislation that is being proposed today
will be in support of the the patients that come into my clinic as a nurse practitioner I have
received numerous emails and calls and interactions with other providers throughout the state that
struggle with the way that the current statutes are written and what do these definitions mean
what do how do they impact my license how do they impact the patients that they interact with
again the statutes the laws that we have in place currently need to be updated there's no reason
based on the stories that you heard from felskalsy senator felskalsy today as well as the stories
that I've heard for the providers throughout the state of wisconsin that patients as well as the
providers having their license put online should be in these situations as I've talked with constituents
on both sides on all sides of the political spectrum it is very apparent to me that
folks are in support of this bill throughout the state of wisconsin statistically we are seeing
that the emails the amounts of calls that we get support this bill when I talk with folks on both
side of the aisle it was surprising to me that when we really got down to the details and you
asked folks well what do you feel is acceptable for the state of wisconsin there were hesitation
when we looked at timelines for weeks there was hesitation when we look at surrounding states and
what they have within their laws I will tell you that there is a middle ground when I talked with
constituents nobody wants zero access and very very few want 40 week abortion and so I feel this
is a middle ground that is acceptable not only for my patients but for the other medical
providers throughout the state of wisconsin as well as the constituents that have reached out
and so I am fortunate to be part of this bill and to be part of the folks represented here today
and we're going to open up four questions from folks if you have some questions for us here
thank you
I can't speak for the asympt or the senate
but we have caucus about this numerous times of the assembly
and again the reason that these pills are so important we want to look at them as a package
because the idea is that we want to make the need for abortion rare there is no one
in our caucus who believes that we should be having abortion for birth control which is why
we support and I think it passed with overwhelming republican votes last time to have the birth
control over the counter through prescription biopharmuses so I feel very confident that's
already passed once I think we will get the votes I really do feel pretty confident that we have 50
do we have extra I don't know yet we haven't actually done a vote count but again I am here
for two reasons number one the legislature is the place where these discussions should be had
I am super disappointed that governor evers has drawn such a right line to say that unless we
basically have abortion until the baby is coming out of the birth canal he will not sign any update
to the statute I think that's reckless and irresponsible but we have here our people of goodwill
saying here is something that republicans could move on to be able to update the statute and make
sure that we have a better defined understanding of when a wounds life would be safe so I think
it's good for all of us so yes I think we can get to 50 I can't speak for the senate but I think
part of this is also hoping that democrats are willing to work with us on this update
and not thinking that somehow they're going to allow the other branch of government to become a
super legislature so I can't answer that on the birth control bill but currently we do not have
the 17 votes on the exceptions bill and updating the life so rather than about democrats I mean
I'm not a lawyer but I'm going to guess if you have to pass this bill it would weaken calls
law students against the current ban because of the tough tape of law right so you're asking
democrats to work with you while they bill that would weaken their ultimate goal or turn your ban
so I'm just going to do it so how would you convince them to work with me on this bill
well the first hope is that Dan Kelly wins the election so that we have a legislature that
actually is the place where political decisions are made not the state supreme court so I think
that is hopefully step number one for this to occur I would say more importantly we should not turn
to the supreme court to become a super legislature the founders didn't intend it to be that way
unfortunately it seems like some of my democratic colleagues are banking on that in the elections
so that they don't have to go through the process that the founders intended in 1848 when we had a
state so I'm an optimist I think that eventually people realize that the right way to do it this
is the traditional process not through a super legislature in the state supreme court but hopefully
the voters agree to that well it's being circulated for co-sponsorship for about two weeks yep till
the 29th yeah we want to give every opportunity for members to sign on we'd like the public to
engage you know as senator pelskowski said this is broadly supported by the public this is not
something where republicans are out of the mainstream I believe if you look at the few research
something like 90 percent of the public believes in exceptions for rape and incest I think hopefully
a hundred percent of the public thinks that we should update the statute so that you clearly
define when somebody has a transplant or they have other health conditions that weren't even
apparent 175 years ago that we would update for those so I think there are things that
should be common sense they should be middle ground and that's why we're here today to make
sure we can try to find that unlikely because we have to have a first question thank you
liability is that determined by a doctor and what include what does that include that includes
some genetic testing for rioters power those determinations that is a great medical question
so after the docs decision happened we reached out and spoke to medical providers and said when
you know and to try in all honesty going to try to put tragedy happens to try to put
everything that could possibly happen into statute and into words we found it very impossible to do
that so and and I think this is something that's really important you have to remember that when
these unfortunate situations happen these are families that are trying to have a child
abortion is the last thing on their mind so we are trusting these families
those women and their husbands to make those decisions with their medical providers
these are not easy decisions and they are not for the least decisions
and I'm selfishly very thankful I was never posed worth having to make that decision
so we are empowering the moms and the fathers who are trying to have children to work with
their medical providers to make sure that they have the healthiest viable baby and that mom's
life is protected in the process okay thanks everybody thank you
thank you