| The truth about Wisconsin's EC ban |
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27 Jun 2005
Anti-contraception lawmakers in the Wisconsin legislature are waging
war on the reproductive rights of the young women of that state. The
State Assembly recently passed a bill that would ban the advertisement
and distribution of emergency contraception on all public university
campuses, bringing Wisconsin one step further toward becoming the first
state to deny emergency contraception to students statewide. Representative Daniel LeMahieu proposed the legislation several months ago in response to advertisements placed in publications at three campuses by University Health Services in the weeks leading up to spring break. The ads suggested that students bring emergency contraception along on their vacations in case other methods of safe sex, such as condoms, fail. Rather than simply reprimanding University Health Services for advertisements he felt were inappropriate, however, LeMahieu's bill takes the most extreme approach possible -- banning the prescription and distribution of the drug by student health services in all instances, including cases of sexual assault. "Are we going to change the lifestyle of every UW student? No," Rep. LeMahieu has said. "But we can tell the university that you are not going to condone it, you are not going to participate in it, and you are not going to use our tax dollars to do it." Rep. LeMahieu and his anti-choice colleagues are arguing from a false assumption that access to emergency contraception and other forms of birth control encourages risky sexual activity among young people. In fact, an article in the 2004 Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology reported that having emergency contraception on hand does not make women more likely to have unprotected sex or to disregard their regular contraceptive method. Widespread access to emergency contraception could prevent 35,200 unintended pregnancies and 17,600 abortions each year in Wisconsin, and help protect the one eighth of UW women sexually assaulted during their time on campus from the additional trauma of unintended pregnancy. The proposed ban far exceeds the expressed intention of Rep. LeMahieu to reduce the availability of emergency contraception to college women. According to Wisconsin Attorney General Peggy A. Lautenschlager, the language of the bill is so vague it could be interpreted to extend to all other forms of hormonal birth control, including oral contraceptives. The anti-choice proponents of this bill would make all forms of contraception more difficult to obtain for students in the University of Wisconsin system. Attorney General Lautenschlager has declared that this bill is blatantly unconstitutional, violating rights to privacy and free speech, discriminating against women, and contradicting forty years of precedent following from the Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut which established access to birth control as a fundamental right. Students and advocates are rushing to defend the reproductive freedom of the young women of Wisconsin. Student assemblies at many of the major public university campuses have passed resolutions expressing disapproval of the ban, and concerned groups organized multi-campus protests to the bill throughout the spring semester. Governor Jim Doyle, a pro-choice Democrat, has threatened to veto the bill if it should also pass the upper house of the Wisconsin legislature. However, anti-contraception politicians continue to push forward with this extremist measure that would reduce young women's ability to protect themselves and their partners through emergency contraception and other hormonal contraceptives obtained where they live, work and attend school. For more information: Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin Press Release Feminist Daily News Wire MTV News |
