Republican Party and Emergency Contraception

The website Playground Politics has a piece on the Emergency Contraception issue, calling it the Death Knell for the Republican Majority. The legislation has been moved to the Judiciary and Ethics Committee, which is chaired by Rep Mark Gundrum (Republican - West Salem) According to the piece:

"If the Republicans refuse to move it out of committee and bring it to the floor, you can be assured that the Democrats will attempt a pulling motion at some point. There will be a roll call vote on this bill. The Democrats will need 50 votes on the first try - just a simple majority - to pull the bill to the floor for a vote."

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, "(Representative Mark) Gundrum told the Wisconsin State Journal he would not hold a hearing on the bill."

Local Winnebago County website Babblemur also covered the issue, stating that "Gundrum must be in a pretty safe district to exercise such “compassionate conservatism” for rape victims."

Analysis - See previous posts ONE and TWO on this issue.

AB377 is important legislation that serves the interests of victims of rape. This bill guarantees the rape victim access to important information on how to legally, safely, and effectively prevent the possibility of an unplanned and unwanted conception. This is a needed guarantee, and we commend Representatives Kaufert and Hintz for co-sponsoring this legislation.

Kaufert and Emergency Contraception

Although none of the 4 representatives seem too interested in publicly sharing their positions with non-main stream media and none of them provided their position on Emergency Contraception when asked (see a previous post which was followed by email request), Dean Kaufert is now listed as a co-sponsor of the Assembly Bill, as is Gordon Hintz.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal on 5/27:

Three Assembly Republican have signed on as co-sponsors and two key anti-abortion groups are officially neutral on the legislation -- a factor that led to the wide margin of support in the Senate.

"This is going to put more pressure on the Assembly leadership now that there's at least three Republicans supporting it," said Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, one of the GOP co-sponsors. "It's different from the whole abortion discussion because we're talking about rape."

Kaufert and Autism Coverage

Dean Kaufert is one a two Republicans to co-sponsor a bill to require insurance companies to cover children with autism.

According to a Capital Times article on 5/15/07, "most insurance companies do not cover treatment for autism because they classify autism as an emotional disorder rather than a neurological medical condition".

The main advocate for the bill is the Wisconsin Early Autism Project - http://www.wiautism.com/.

Assembly and Emergency Contraception

On Wednesday, the State Senate passed a resolution (SB129) that would require hospitals to provide information about and access to emergency contraception for rape victims. The bill passed 27-6, including support from Sen Ellis and Sen Roessler.

According to the Women's Alliance for Women's Health, "Emergency contraception (EC) is an FDA approved form of contraception that is also known as the “morning after pill.” It is an extremely time sensitive drug that works for up to 120 hours, but is most effective if used within the first 12 to 24 hours
following unprotected sex, birth control failure or sexual assault. EC does not affect an existing pregnancy, and should not be confused with the “abortion pill,” also known as RU486. "

For a detailed review of emergency contraception, read this report from staff at Princeton.

According to Planned Parenthood Wisconsin, "A 2006 study found that 66% of Wisconsin emergency rooms fail to provide access to EC to rape victims."

The only group to lobby against EC was Pro-Life Wisconsin. According to director Peggy Hamill, “The Wisconsin Senate has shamefully ignored the fate of embryonic children by forcing Wisconsin hospitals to dispense a known abortion-causing drug to vulnerable women. In so doing, they have trampled upon the conscience rights of hospitals in blatant disregard of our federal and state constitutions which guarantee freedom of religious expression and liberty of conscience.”



I will send the following questions to our 4 Assembly Representatives to assist them in distributing their public opinions, support, and/or opposition to this.

Dear Representative,

Please answer the following questions regarding the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill.

1. What are the positive points of the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill?

2. What are the negative points of the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill?

3. Without access to EC, what other avenues for support and assistance do you believe are available to rape victims that adequately address the situation?

4. Do you support a proposal similar to SB129? Why or Why not?

Kaufert on Hospital Tax

In a March 14 press release, Rep Dean Kaufert and State Sen Mike Ellis critize the proposed Hospital Tax. According to the release:

“The governor has called this tax a “win-win,” and he has even alleged that four hospitals in Neenah and Appleton will collectively gain $12.6 million more in revenues than they will pay in under the new tax,” Kaufert said...

Kaufert said the governor’s numbers were based on an unrealistic best-case scenario that ignored numerous federal rules governing medical assistance. Federal rules, for example, impose reimbursement limits, forbid “hold-harmless” clauses and require some reimbursement dollars to pass through HMOs. When those rules are applied, the numbers are vastly altered, he said...

“The governor is proposing to take more than $11 million out of the Fox Cities with just this tax alone, to say nothing of the proposed increases in cigarette taxes, gas taxes, drivers licenses and a whole host of fees and taxes,” said Kaufert. “This is a sick tax that is unhealthy for the Fox Cities.”

...Kaufert and Ellis said the tax is even more odious because it is absolutely unnecessary to fund our current medical assistance programs. Under the governor’s proposal, the new hospital tax, along with the increased cigarette tax and a raid on the Patients’ Compensation Fund is simply being used to replace more than $800 million in current spending over two years.

According to an article on the hospital tax in the Milwaukee JS on February 16:

Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal to increase federal funding for state health programs through a tax on hospitals would shift some of the cost of providing care for the poor and the uninsured to many of the state's most profitable hospitals. For this reason, the proposed tax would produce some clear losers and clear winners.

The losers overall would be hospitals in affluent, suburban communities such as Waukesha, Brookfield and Mequon. The winners would be hospitals near poor neighborhoods, such as Aurora Sinai Medical Center and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Joseph, both in Milwaukee.

The governor has proposed using some - though not all - of the revenue to pay hospitals more to care for people in state health programs such as Medicaid and BadgerCare.

State Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch discusses the hospital tax here. Pic below of Huebsch from his legislator website.