Vos backs exceptions to ban
Speaker: Offer choice in cases of rape, incest
MADISON – Assembly Speaker Robin Vos wants exceptions for rape and incest if Wisconsin’s ban on abortion goes into effect this summer, but he said he doesn’t know if his fellow Republicans will go along with that idea.
Vos, of Rochester, said the possibility of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in the coming weeks will force lawmakers to consider numerous issues.
Early in his political career, Vos backed a bill to ban emergency contraception like Plan B on college campuses and he said he may have to think about the idea anew.
His stance on exceptions to an abortion ban puts him at odds with the four Republicans running for governor because they want a broad abortion ban.
“I believe that if a woman is raped or a victim of incest that she should have a right with their family to decide what’s the right choice for the child,” Vos said in an interview this week. “Now, I do believe it’s a child, so I think that by and large most people would choose to carry to term but I think that’s a choice that I have always said the mother should make.”
Vos made the comments a week after the leak of a draft U.S. Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe, the 1973 ruling that found a right to seek an abortion. The draft ruling could change before it is released.
Overturning Roe could put back in place a Wisconsin law from 1849 that bans abortion in all cases except when two doctors determine a mother’s life is at risk.
Vos and the Republicans running for governor support that exception, but they differ over exceptions for rape and incest. The candidates for governor oppose rape and incest exceptions and could veto them if Vos got them through the Legislature.
Running for governor are former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, construction company co-owner Tim Michels, management consultant Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Tim Ramthun of Campbellsport.
The winner of the Aug. 9 primary will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who supports abortion rights.
Democratic Rep. Lisa Subeck of Madison has long pushed to repeal the 1849 ban so it can’t go into effect if Roe is overturned.
“It’s archaic. It was passed at a time
when terminating a pregnancy was very different than it is now as far as the medical aspect of it,” she said.
“We know what happens when abortion isn’t legal and it means that abortion isn’t safe. It’s unfortunate that law wasn’t repealed at an earlier time but if ever there’s a sense of urgency and ever there’s a time, it’s now.”
Regardless of who wins the governor’s office, Republicans are all but certain to control the Legislature.
Backed emergency contraception ban
Vos said he did not want to ban what he called “pre-sex birth control” like IUDs but would have to think about whether he would support banning emergency contraception. Drugs like Plan B can be taken up to three days after sex to prevent pregnancies.
“The morning-after pill, you know, we’d have to have a discussion about that,” Vos said.
Vos in 2005 was a sponsor of legislation that would have prevented the University of Wisconsin System from advertising, prescribing or dispensing emergency contraception. The Assembly passed it 49-41, but the state Senate never took it up and the measure died.
Vos emphasized he supports birth control generally, noting he has backed legislation in recent years that would make hormonal birth control available over the counter instead of by prescription only. Republicans in the state Senate have blocked such measures.
“I think we need to focus on making sure that abortions are rare” by making birth control more widely available, Vos said.
Believes same-sex marriage will stand
Critics of the draft Supreme Court opinion have argued that if it stands the court could next reverse its ruling that found same-sex couples have a right to get married.
If that were to happen, the 2006 ban on same-sex marriage in the Wisconsin Constitution could go back into effect.
Vos backed the marriage ban but said he does not believe it will go back into effect.
“I do not see people filing a lawsuit at least today to say that we need to overturn the right for a man and a man to get married,” he said. “If that happens, and if a court decides that, then I’ll have to think about what my position is, right? ... I have always believed that marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s what I believe. That’s what my Catholic faith says.”