Wisconsin State Sen. Kelda Roys and University of Wisconsin medical students held a press conference on the Wisconsin State Capitol steps Wednesday to address U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde’s anti-abortion rights stance, according to WisDems.
Hovde, a UW alumni and finance executive who resides in Madison, entered the U.S. Senate race Feb. 20, challenging incumbent Tammy Baldwin, according to previous reporting from The Badger Herald.
Similar events were also held Wednesday in Milwaukee and Green Bay, according to WisDems.
“I believe the voters of Wisconsin can come together and find a common sense and compassionate solution that respects life while also safeguarding individual rights,” Hovde said in response to the conferences, according to WBay. “I believe we need exceptions for cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother, but Senator Baldwin’s extreme position to support the abortion of a healthy baby up to the moment of a full-term delivery is unconscionable.”
In 2012, during his campaign for the same office, Hovde appeared on WQAT and said he was “totally opposed to abortion,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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Roys, along with students from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health delivered statements condemning Hovde’s anti-abortion rights beliefs at the event Wednesday.
Samantha Crowley, a third year medical student at UW, took the podium first, discussing the repercussions of the Roe v. Wade reversal, preventing UW medical students from receiving rotation credits for treating patients receiving abortion services.
“We came to medical school so that we could learn how to practice medicine,” Crowley said. “If we don’t get trained now, Wisconsin will be left with generations of doctors who do not know how to provide adequate abortion care, leading to even fewer doctors and worse access to reproductive healthcare in the state of Wisconsin.”
Kaitlyn Landry, also a third-year medical student, then said that the uncertainty surrounding reproductive care in Wisconsin following the Dobbs decision and overturning of Roe v. Wade posed serious health risks to women in the state, in some circumstances forcing women to walk a line between reproductive health and criminality.
Roys said Hovde is trying to “convince us not to believe his many years of anti-choice advocacy,” at the end of the conference.
Hovde will face off against four other Republican candidates for the seat in the Aug. 13 primary election, where the Republican candidate will be selected. The general election will take place Nov. 5.
