MILWAUKEE – Shouts of ‘I believe that we will win’ and ‘ain’t no power like the power of the people’ filled the south entryway to the Milwaukee County Courthouse Monday night. The activist group Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee, RJAM, held a rally to celebrate Planned Parenthood Wisconsin resuming abortion care in the state.
While Planned Parenthood Wisconsin’s decision to resume providing abortions caused cheers of ‘we did it’ in the crowd, RJAC Outreach Chair Carly Klein says there is a long way to go
“While this is a huge victory, it is a small step that need to be taken in a larger battle in repealing Wisconsin Statute 940.04 and making abortion more accessible in Milwaukee.”
Statute 940.04 is commonly referred to as the ‘1849 abortion ban’. It was largely looked at as a ban on abortion in Wisconsin, until Dane County Judge Diane Schlipper ruled the statute does not apply to a consensual abortion administered by a medical professional.
As for making abortion more accessible, speeches were made in front of a banner that read ‘Roe V. Wade is the floor’. Blake Jones of RJAM said once abortions are commonly administered in Wisconsin, they need to be accessible to anyone in any financial situation.
“Our next steps are to expand abortion access in Wisconsin. Right now, even after (statute) 940.04 gets overturned it would default to a 1983 law where telehealth is not available for getting a consultation. There is no rural access so we want to create rural access. Finally, get rid of the mandatory waiting period.”
Monday was the day Planned Parenthood Wisconsin began performing and scheduling abortions again. It drew crowds of protestors urging people to not abort their pregnancies. Jones said that if everyone agreed that abortion access is important, it would not be such a hot button issue.
“I would want to give them (pro-life protestors) a hug. People misunderstand how important this is to healthcare. Abortion is healthcare. And once you realize that abortion is healthcare, its not a hard concept to understand.”
