Here is my full column that ran in the Washington County Daily News earlier this week.

Republican State Sen. Romaine Quinn and Republican Reps. Gae Magnafici and Donna Rozar have released four bills designed to expand support for mothers and children while protecting babies. While Gov. Tony Evers has already committed to vetoing the bills should they reach his desk, the Republican Legislature should pass them anyway.

 

Under current law, Wisconsin bans abortion in all cases except in the event that the life of the mother is at stake. As written, however, the exception is vaguely written and doctors might be unwilling to risk criminal charges to perform an abortion to save a mother. It should be noted that such scenarios are exceedingly rare, but they do happen.

 

The first bill would simply clarify what qualifies as an exception to the abortion ban. If passed, the law would identify specific procedures and circumstances that would allow an abortion and protect both the doctors and the mother from any undue legal consequences.

 

The second bill would expand the state child tax credit from $700 to $1,000 for each child and extend the credit to children inside the womb. The bill would allow parents to claim the child tax credit as soon as an ultrasound detects the child’s heartbeat.

 

The third bill would direct an annual $1 million grant to pregnancy resource centers throughout the state. These centers are vital in providing support for mothers and care for their babies. The fourth and final bill would have the state spend an additional $5 million to provide grants to organizations that help people adopt children. As a package, the four bills comprise a compassionate approach to protecting babies while providing more support for mothers who have unplanned babies. As expected, Governor Evers has promised to veto the bills if they reach his desk. Evers has been consistent in promising to veto any bill related to expanding access to abortions, supporting unborn children, or making any changes whatsoever to Wisconsin’s almost total ban on abortions.

 

Evers’ political calculations are simple to understand. With the most recent Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, the pro-abortion leftists hold a majority on the court. Attorney General Josh Kaul has already sued the state to overturn Wisconsin’s abortion ban. If you thought that the state’s top lawyer was supposed to defend the state’s laws, you would be correct. But Kaul does not see his role as defending the state’s laws as passed by a duly elected Legislature and signed by a duly elected governor. Kaul views his job a simply a platform to advance his leftist ideology and that is exactly what he is doing by suing his own state.

 

Given the current makeup of the state Supreme Court and certainty that the leftist justices will strike down Wisconsin’s abortion law irrespective of the facts of the suit or the laws on the books, Evers is unwilling to allow any changes to Wisconsin’s abortion laws lest such a change undermines the legal effort to overturn the law. He need not fear because the leftist justices are going to overturn the state’s abortion ban no matter what. In their ideology, the end justifies the means and the law and Constitution are merely words to be ignored when they become inconvenient.

 

Still, one must step back from the political machinations at play and marvel at the ghoulishness and cruelty of Evers’ position. He refuses to extend the child tax credit to unborn children because to do so would acknowledge that they are children. Even at nine months, Evers’ maniacal support for abortions cannot acknowledge that the baby is a human — as if the thin layers of skin, muscle, and membrane separating the baby from air also separates her from humanity.

 

In Evers’ pro-abortion world, it would be unforgivable to clarify when an abortion would be allowed to protect a mother’s life. He would rather see the mother die, or the doctors risk their careers, than sign anything that might be construed as defining an unborn baby as a living human deserving of protection.

 

As Republicans are putting forth reasonable changes to the law in consideration of concerns raised, Evers will broker no adjustments in lieu of his ardent desire to see babies aborted up to the point of natural birth. If there is a more radical and grisly position, I know not what it is.