it's done. >> Reporting from Madison.
I'm Zac Schultz for "Here& Now".
>> While the Wisconsin Supreme Court has settled
the issue of state law surrounding abortion, the
medical procedure is not a constitutionally protected
right in Wisconsin. So the next legislature and
governor could change the law at any time. As part of
our continuing series examining the big issues in
the governor's election, Zac Schultz asked the
leading candidates about the topic of abortion.
>> My choice. >> In the nearly four years
since the Dobbs decision has returned the issue of
abortion to the states, Wisconsin's Republican
controlled legislature and Democratic Governor Tony
Evers were not able to agree on any laws regarding
abortion, whether that was time limits, exceptions for
rape and incest, or medical definitions for when the
life of the mother was in danger. We asked the
leading candidates for governor if they would like
to see any changes to Wisconsin's abortion laws.
>> Yes, and I've authored many of them. I believe
that abortion and frankly, all health care decisions
are personal and individual politicians have no role in
making those decisions for you. And certainly we
cannot allow abortion, contraception, IVF to be
criminalized or put doctors under threat when they're
simply providing care. I want to see your freedom to
make your own decisions guaranteed in this state.
>> Look, I'm a huge champion when it comes down
to to abortion here in the state of Wisconsin. When I
was a state representative in 2017, I coauthored
legislation declaring abortion as health care and
as a as a father of three daughters. Being a girl dad
times three is important for me to make sure that
they have the same rights that their mother and
grandmother had, not less. And so I'm going to always
be a champion for women's rights to choose.
>> No. So I voted for the current law, which ten
years ago when I was in the state legislature, which is
you can have an abortion up to five months. And I voted
for that law. And as governor, I will uphold it.
>> Well, abortion to me is a decision that is best
made between a woman and her health care provider.
Abortion is health care. And so, you know, I'd like
to see us to do things that get politics out of that
and ensure that that women and their doctors can make
those decisions, educated and informed decisions on
their own. >> What we need to do is to
make sure that we enshrine Roe within Wisconsin.
That's what I've always been really clear about.
I'm, again, a nurse by background. We know that
these type of healthcare decisions are best made
between a patient and their doctor, and Roe has been
something that has kept women safe for decades. And
we need to make sure that we have legislation to keep
women safe in Wisconsin so that it does not go back
and forth between if we have different leaders
between Republicans and Democrats.
1849 abortion ban. And I think abortion freedom and
is, you know, about health care and democracy as well.
And so I think it's important that we keep in
mind that abortion is health care, and that
access to that health care has to be equitable.
>> And I would love to see this country get back to a
pre Dobbs era, because Roe was the law of the land
that was generally accepted by Democrats, of course,
but even Republicans who didn't necessarily like
abortion wasn't their thing. Roe was sort of a
compromise for them and something they felt
comfortable with. >> I would like to see it
proactively protected. Women's right to choose
right now is dependent on court cases, and we need to
have a law on the on the books that protects women's
right to choose, protects women's rights, to take
care of everything that they need for their bodies
and puts women first in that conversation.