Big Government Overreach in Private, Medical Decision

State Sen. Chris Larson effectively summarizes all that is wrong with the budget bill.  In addition to denying women importan health rights, they are punishing the victims of sexual assault, encouraging unqualified individuals to perform invasive medical procedures, implementing an unfunded mandate on women,  and all while continuing to lag economically.  .  .  continue reading Sen. Larson’s Newsletter.

The Republican War on Women

Planned Parenthood press release -June 14, 2013

Republicans Prioritize Taking Away Women’s Health CareAccess Over Jobs

Republicans refuse to exempt rape victims and women who need an abortion to save their lives from SB 206
MADISON- Despite calls from Democrats in the Assembly to focus the Thursday calendar on job creation, the Republican majority in the State Assembly instead dedicated hours of debate to pass restrictions on birth control access and abortion. In the end, the Republican majority voted to pass AB 216, AB 217 and SB 206 and rejected 13 amendments including proposals to exempt victims of rape and women who need an abortion to save their life from the mandated ultrasound and state required detailed ultrasound description. These bills have been fast tracked through the legislative process in the midst of the budget debate to undermine public awareness and input on these cruel and harmful policies. SB 206 mandates an unprecedented level of government intrusion between a woman and her doctor and will shut down one of Wisconsin last remaining abortion facilities. All of these restrictions are being considered to distract the public from the fact that Governor Walker turned away federal funds to enhance health coverage for hardworking Wisconsinites and his budget proposal that takes BadgerCare away from nearly 100,000 women and families who need the security of quality health coverage without facing huge medical bills.

In response Dr. King from Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin issued the following statement:  ”As a physician, I trust my patients to know what is best for them, and I believe in their ability to make this decision without unwanted intrusion from lawmakers.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for legislators to mandate the way a physician should practice medicine, and this law would jeopardize the doctor-patient relationship. Consider my patient, Jessica, who at 13 years old became pregnant as the result of a brutal gang rape. Forcing her to view the ultrasound and to hear a detailed description of the fetal development would have been cruel, unnecessary and irrelevant to the course of her needed care.”

Even though politicians are playing doctor in the state Capitol mandating medical procedures for women, we know that real doctors put patients first and trust women to make their own health care decisions. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and our doctors, nurses and caring staff will continue to work even harder everyday to ensure women have access to vital health care. Planned Parenthood will continue to be here for the 1 in 5 women who rely on us.

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Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is a nonprofit health care provider caring for 70,000 patients annually at 23 health centers. 98 percent of Planned Parenthood’s care are preventive health services, including well woman exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, HIV screening and STD treatment.

The Result of Citizens United — We are feeling it in Wisconsin

“The American people will pay dearly for this decision when, more than ever, their voices are drowned out by corporate spending in our federal elections.” Russ Feingold on Citizens United. That is what we saw in Madison today.
Get Big Money out of Politics: Citizens United v Democracy
What Can You Do About It? Learn More June 13th

Find out how and why the 2010 Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court changed our country; learn how people are working to take power back from corporations that donate endless streams of money to candidates. Mary Laan from the national movement, Move to Amend, will speak June 13th at 6:15 at a forum hosted by Grassroots North Shore at the North Shore Presbyterian Church in Shorewood.
Fourteen states, the most recent being Maine, have all called for an amendment to overturn Citizens United. We have begun the process here in Wisconsin by passing a series of referendums designed to press the legislature for a ballot referendum. Ballot referendums have already been passed in: Dane County, Dunn County, Chippewa County, Eau Claire County, West Allis, Whitewater, Madison, Fort Atkinson, and Monona; signature-gathering in Wauwatosa is currently in progress. Grassroots North Shore will be working with United Wisconsin to gather petitions in Whitefish Bay and Shorewood, beginning at the end of June or early July. We will have some door-to-door petitions, but most signatures will be gathered at stationary sites.
You can find more info on this issue at: http://www.unitedwisconsin.com/citizens-unitedbig-money-in-politics.
You can sign up to help out in Wauwatosa by going to this site: http://www.unitedwisconsin.com/volunteer-to-reverse-citizens-united-in-wauwatosa.

For more information on how we plan to bring this campaign to Shorewood and Whitefish Bay, contact Shirley Horowitz at shirley.horowitz@att.net.
Join us June 13th to find out why this is a crucial battle for our democracy, and help us take the power back from big-money interests.

The Grassroots North Shore Office — Hours and Contact

Location: 325 W. Silver Spring Dr., Glendale — 53217.

Walker’s Performance – Less Than Meets the Eye

This Economy Is Getting Us Nowhere – But This Isn’t Stopping the GOP from Gutting Wisconsin’s Traditions

We Need to Stop Them

Last week it came out in the Milwaukee Journal that under the over two years of the Walker administration, only 62,000 new jobs have been created, well short of the 250,000 jobs he promised when he ran for governor.

It’s worse than that. Our friend Chris Liebenthal in his blog pointed out that since Walker’s budget was passed in 2011, only 30,000 Wisconsinites took on new jobs. The other roughly 30,000 happened under Jim Doyle’s budget. This is a keeper. The numbers you need are all there. . . continue reading

Move To Amend-End the influence of big money

Click here to sign up to restore our democracy and reverse Citizens United