Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin vetoed four pro-life laws sent to his desk Friday afternoon, including one that would have protected survivors of abortion. His vetoes fulfilled a promise he made to his constituents last month.
Assembly Bill 179, a version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, did not interfere with a woman’s ability to get an abortion, according to state Senate president Roger Roth, and was solely focused on ensuring abortion survivors are provided the same life-saving care as any other baby born at the same gestational age. “It’s not anti-abortion, it’s anti-murder,” Roth said, adding (according to the Associated Press), “How could anyone object to this?”
In a statement, Governor Evers described the protections as “redundant”: “I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to the political interference between patients and their healthcare providers. Further, this bill is redundant because the protections this bill seeks to provide already exist in state law.” However, as Live Action News has previously reported, data from the Centers for Disease Control, together with eyewitness accounts and the frank admissions of abortionists, prove that babies do survive abortion and are subsequently either left to die or actively killed.
The other bills vetoed by the governor include a bill banning sex- and disability-selective abortion, a bill cutting off Medicaid funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, and an informed consent bill requiring abortionists to inform women seeking first-trimester abortions about abortion pill reversal, a policy aimed to assist women who are coerced to abort or who regret their medication abortions during the process.
READ: Media ignores profit motive of researcher attempting to discredit abortion pill reversal
Evers issued statements on each bill, claiming they place unnecessary interference between “healthcare providers” and patients, a sentiment he also tweeted, that they unnecessarily restrict abortion, and that abortion pill reversal is not evidence-based, even though there is good preliminary evidence for the procedure.
The Wisconsin Republican party lacks the majority required to override the vetoes.
Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life, Heather Weininger, spoke to LifeSiteNews at a rally to urge the governor to sign the bill. “Not only were hundreds of supporters there, but Melissa Ohden, a survivor of a failed saline infusion abortion, and Claire Culwell, a survivor of an abortion that ended the life of her twin, also joined us to let Governor Evers know babies do survive failed abortion attempts,” said Weininger. “The only signature missing from these bills from being enacted into law is Governor Evers.”
Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke put out a statement about the veto. “I’m incredibly saddened, though not surprised, that Governor Evers has chosen to ignore the voices of Wisconsinites from all over the state who support these pieces of legislation. […]. Unfortunately, Governor Evers has once again made clear that he believes protecting babies in Wisconsin simply isn’t a productive use of his time.”
According to the Washington Examiner, Governor Evers is the third governor this year to veto bills protecting abortion survivors.
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