Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton joined protesters in speaking out against a ban on abortion coverage in insurance plans at a rally on Capitol Square Wednesday.
“If I sound like I have a little anger in my voice, it’s because I do,” Lawton said. “I am absolutely sick of women being treated like a special interest group.”
The purpose of the rally was to protest the inclusion of a ban on abortion coverage by insurance companies in the U.S. Senate health reform bill, said NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Executive Director Lisa Subeck.
A version of health reform passed through the House of Representatives in November, Subeck said, where a last-minute amendment by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Penn., offered an amendment to the bill that bans abortion coverage from being included in insurance plans.
“We, like so many women throughout the country, … watched in horror as our rights were stripped away in the health care reform bill,” Subeck said.
Lawton recounted the history of health care coverage for women, saying insurance companies would not provide coverage of routine maternal health care or mammograms until the Legislature directed them to do so.
“What is happening is we’re fashioning a bill around an industry that would deny me coverage … and now I would have an existing condition just for being a woman,” Lawton said.
Lawton said many industries like the manufacturing and dining sectors had to change due to an evolving society, and insurance companies should not be exempted from change because of certain peoples’ personal beliefs.
Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, referenced famous feminist Gloria Steinem and asked what Steinem would think of this so-called regression in women’s rights.
“[Steinem] is a pioneer feminist — which one of my favorite definitions of that is the radical notion that women are people,” Berceau said. “What would she be thinking today that we all have to be here again still over and over again on [reproductive rights]?”
Other speakers included Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, chair of the Wisconsin Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Chris Taylor, public policy director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, and Steve Blank, a member of Single-Payer Action Network.
According to Subeck, the event in Madison is part of the nationwide effort “National Day of Action and Stop Stupak-Pitts.” Events included a large-scale rally in Washington, D.C., where NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin sent 35 supporters to represent the state.
Subeck urged those present to contact the offices of Sen. Russ Feingold and Sen. Herb Kohl and tell them to vote against any similar amendment to the Senate version of the health reform.
Julaine Appling, CEO of Wisconsin Family Council, said the protesters have a right to express their dissenting opinions, but said she agrees with the Stupak Amendment.
“I don’t like the health care bill, but if we have to have it, the best pro-life protection is the Stupak amendment,” Appling said.
She added WFC always includes the contact information for Feingold and Kohl and the state’s Congress members so citizens can voice their support for anti-abortion legislation.
