Democratic voters are taking advantage of the chance to cast an early ballot for Mary Burke this week. Voters have until Friday, October, 31 to cast an early ballot for November elections.
Wisconsin voters have a long list of reasons why they’re voting against another four years of Scott Walker’s failures. Scott Walker’s war on women is as good a reason as any for voters to head to the polls today to vote against another four years of Scott Walker’s failures.
Scott Walker is an extremist on women’s issues and far out on the margins of the mainstream when it comes to women’s health issues in particular. In his first term, pay equity protections have been watered down, women’s health clinics have closed, and access to basic health care services has been rolled back statewide. Without question Walker is on the frontlines of the war on women as a leading voice in the effort to undermine and curtail women’s rights.
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Scott Walker repealed Wisconsin’s 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act, a law meant to deter workplace discrimination by giving workers more avenues via which to press charges. [1]
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Walker’s legislation which mandates medically-unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds and the reading of a state-authored shaming script was opposed by medical professionals in organizations. Walker’s bill restricted a woman’s decision to have a safe and legal abortion in order to appeal to the most radical, far-right element of the Republican Party.[2]
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Speaking at an editorial board in 2010, Walker confirmed that he opposes all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest.[3]
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As a result of losing massive amounts of funding for key health centers and family planning services across the state, nine family planning and healthcare centers faced cutbacks and disrupted services – eight of those health centers were in counties without alternative family planning providers. In addition, five Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin health centers were forced to close in Fond du Lac, Shawano, Chippewa Falls, Beaver Dam, and Johnson Creek. [4]
BACKGROUND:
[1] “A Wisconsin law that made it easier for victims of wage discrimination to have their day in court was repealed on Thursday, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) quietly signed the bill.” (Scott Walker Quietly Repeals Wisconsin Equal Pay Law, Huffington Post, 4/6/12)
[2] “ ‘This speed of passage sends a clear signal that these legislators want to deny any efforts to ensure due process and are refusing to allow sufficient time for medical providers, advocates, women and their partners to truly weigh in on the anticipated damaging effects of this legislation,’ Sara Finger, the executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health, said in a statement. Finger had less than 24 hours to analyze the legislation before testifying against it.” (Scott Walker Endorses Mandating Transvaginal Ultrasounds And Shutting Down Abortion Clinics, Think Progress, 6/12/14)
[3] Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: You oppose abortion even in cases of rape and i3cest. Scott Walker: (Nods) MJS: Tell me if I got that right. SW: That’s correct. (Scott Walker Wants to Totally Outlaw Abortion. In This Sneaky New Ad, He Pretends He Doesn’t., Mother Jones, 10/7/2014)
[4] “A fifth Planned Parenthood health center closed in Wisconsin on Thursday due to state budget cuts that directed family planning money away from the provider.” (Fifth Planned Parenthood Clinic Closes In Wisconsin, Huffingtonpost, 9/25/14)
