WI GOP senators pass abortion measure requiring ultrasounds
In a raucous clash on the state Senate floor Wednesday that recalled the bitter divides of 2011, Republicans abruptly cut off debate and forced a vote requiring that women seeking abortions get ultrasounds.
The morning’s brief floor session included sharp exchanges and one senator contending that abortions “became the thing to do” in the 1960s.
Democrats protested the bill’s merits and the process by which it was passed, saying Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau and his fellow Republicans were trampling on democracy by ending debate after about 25 minutes.
Before debate was cut off, Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), the bill’s author, said the measure would ensure women had as much information as possible before making an abortion decision that couldn’t be reversed.
“If you have a loved one that’s thinking about terminating their pregnancy, for crying out loud, you want them to have full information,” she said. “You want them to have an ultrasound. You want them to know what’s going on in that womb.”
She also contended that “there’s a vast majority of women that regret” their abortions and said that they had become common because of cultural shifts in the 1960s.
“It became popular in the ’60s and it was almost the thing to do,” she said. “You needed to get one of them to be a woman.”
Democrats denounced those comments, with Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) calling them “delusional.”
“This is not something that women brag about,” said Sen. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse). “It is a deeply personal issue between a woman and her doctor and a woman and her faith.”
Link to video from the session.
Worth a watch. Bullies in action.