Wisconsin bans birth control being sold on university campuses

[donsu]

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2005/07/27/64850

Protecting women’s reproductive rights on college campuses

Minnesotans should be wary of Wisconsin’s ban on birth contol on its university campuses.


College campuses have emerged as the latest battlefield in the nation’s war on women’s reproductive rights. Wisconsin has passed a bill entitled UW Birth Control Ban-AB 343. This bill prohibits University of Wisconsin campuses from prescribing, dispensing and advertising all forms of birth control and emergency contraceptives. Wisconsin State Rep. Dan LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, introduced this bill based on the belief that “dispensing birth control and emergency contraceptives leads to promiscuity.” In reality, full access to all birth control options — including emergency contraceptives — has no effect on the level of women’s promiscuity. Instead, birth control and emergency contraceptives help prevent more than 35,000 unintended births and 800,000 abortions each year.

The bill denies thousands of women essential health-care services and reproductive choices and affects their lives and futures in many ways. With this bill, rape victims will no longer be able to turn to campus health services to obtain emergency contraceptives to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, or receive postrape counseling and education — adding even more stress to a traumatic event. Students who want birth-control prescriptions, emergency contraceptives or even information about preventive birth control are forced to seek out these services at off-campus clinics. This poses a problem not only for students who attend rural Wisconsin university campuses and might not have a clinic nearby but also for many students who attend urban campuses but do not have access to transportation, money, insurance or time to travel to an off-campus clinic. By removing the convenience of having these services on campus, students are less likely to seek out preventive birth control, which could lead to more unintended pregnancies and abortions. Emergency contraceptives are especially vulnerable to this bill because they must be taken within 72 hours to effectively prevent pregnancy, thus, adding even more pressure for students to find a way off-campus to receive the prescription.

Any rollback of women’s reproductive rights is inexcusable, but the bill is especially disturbing because it is directed at college campuses and targets a population in which there tends to be a high concurrency of sexual assaults and unplanned sexual encounters. During a time in their lives when they need full access to all birth control options the most, this bill denies women access to any options at all. College is also a time when students are transforming into young adults and are taking control of their lives and futures. Denying women full reproductive services and choices sends the message that women cannot be trusted to make decisions that affect their bodies, their lives and their futures.

In passing this bill, Wisconsin has the distinct honor of becoming the first state in the nation to limit college students’ access to full birth control options. Minnesotans should be concerned about what this bill means for their future. Not only does the bill affect the 13,000 Minnesotans who attend college in Wisconsin, but it also sets a dangerous precedent for similar bills to be introduced on college campuses across the nation in the future. Currently, University of Minnesota students have access to full reproductive services at their on-campus clinics, including emergency contraceptives, pregnancy counseling, access to birth-control prescriptions and more. However, Minnesota, as Wisconsin’s nearest neighbor, might be the next stop in the introduction of college campus birth-control-ban bills.
-snip-
-------------------------------------

my hatred metre went up a notch

whose side are you on in the war against women?

[madeline_con]

1. Roe v Wade repealed in small increments...

I had no idea so many were against choice until all these new bills started popping up. :shrug:

[FreedomAngel82]

2. Protecting by removing?

Backwards. :mad: I guess they want every college student who has sex to have a chance to have an unwanted pregnancy and thus more abortions. Ignorant fools! I'm so sick and tired of this crap!

[madeline_con]

6. "... more abortions ..."

They won't be able to have those, either.

All pregnancies must be brought to term from now on, and these a$$holes are going to see to it that they are!

[elehhhhna]

3. Totally unconstitutional law. Totally. The U's better ignore it

or there'll be one hell of a class action suit. I'm sure it's being drafted as we speak.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. I hope so. This is shocknig and outrageous. How DARE lawmaker lesgislate

what consenting adults may or may not do in sexual situations, regardless of how the school is funded?!

[rodeodance]

34. legislators have been telling women what to do as long as I have lived.

[GreenPartyVoter]

47. I know but this is such a step backward from where we have been

[HereSince1628]

68. On what basis unconstitutional? Wisconsin or Federal constitution?

I'd be glad if it was, but on what basis did you say that?

[jane_pippin]

4. Never in a billion years did I think UW schools would do this

Just---wow. I'm going to go read some more about it so I can actually have something coherent to say about it.

[edbermac]

5. Promotes promiscuity on college campuses???

Jesus, this guy is nuts...why do you think 99% of teenagers go to college anyway? To get drunk and get LAID!

Going to college promotes promiscuity!

[madeline_con]

You know the logic....

the availability of condoms makes people have sex!

[SemperEadem]

45. truly

then males should be sent to seminaries and females sent to convents if they don't want promiscuous sex---and even then, I'm sure a young adult finding their way in the world is going to find a way to rebel and do what they want to do.

[htuttle]

7. Again, the mullah's in Oostburg telling the rest of us how to live

However, I don't think this has passed the State Senate yet, and Doyle's veto pen is ready to go if it does (or already has).

So I don't believe it's law yet, and probably won't become law...

BTW, where the fuck IS Oostburg, anyway? Never even heard of it until the wingers took over the Assembly.

[donheld]

8. We need to be in the streets protesting

these insane things.

[SmokingJacket]

9. Well, there's one state my sons won't be going to college in.

That's about the nuttiest thing ever.

[wryter2000]

10. God-fucking-damn-it

:rant:

How dare they try to dictate their Victorian, repressive sexual "morality" on other people? If that asshole thinks keeping people from getting contraceptives keeps them from having sex, I have a bridge he ought to buy. There is no more certain way to guarantee there will be unwanted pregnancies.

These bastards aren't "pro-life." They're anti-sex. If they had their way, every woman who didn't follow their restrictive, anti-life, anti-love, anti-woman rules would die in childbirth with a pregnancy she never wanted.

[sakabatou]

12. “dispensing birth control...

"nd emergency contraceptives leads to promiscuity."

Now it leads to safer sex, you morans!

[Pirate Smile]

13. Can they be more idiotic? Geez, are they trying to increase the number of

abortions?

This RW crap is unbelievable.

:wow: :spank:

edit to add - let's see, how old are you when you are in college? Aren't you usually over 18 - an adult?

I'm amazed at their ability to keep amazing me.

[Deep13]

14. "leads to promescuity"

:shrug: and???

So what is wrong with promescuity? It is a college after all.

This is all about control. These uptight, conservative white guys resent that they have no power over procreation. The goal is to keep women under their thumbs.

[smoogatz]

15. It's as good as vetoed.

No way our fine Democratic governor will let this steaming pile of horsehsit stand as law. What's amazing is that anything so obviously intended to infantalize and disempower college-age women ever got through a state legislature in the first place--especially in the home state of the great Bob LaFollette. What an embarrassment. Our state leg are a pack of right-wing numbskulls.

[htuttle]

17. Doyle was saying he was going to veto it last week...

...if it passed the Senate. As far as I can tell, it hasn't even been introduced into the Senate yet (not on the schedule that I could find).

[rodeodance]

30. good to know that it in not yet in Senate--but need to get the word out.

[devilgrrl]

16. Now no college students will want to have sex!

Banning birth control will make sure that won't happen :sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

19. go to the site and rate the article. It is important.

[proud patriot]

18. shortsighted idiocy

:grr:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

20. How many guys can a woman be with before she's "promiscuous?"

Such an old fashioned term.

[Patiod]

44. We always used to say a slut

is anyone who has slept with more men then you have.

(kind of like an alcoholic is someone who drinks more than you do...)

/I know you were serious, but it just reminded me of the old joke

[The Magistrate]

62. Mosr Mem Use The Term, Ma'am

To indicate merely a woman they suspect has slept with some other fellow some time or other, but will not sleep with them now....

[LeftyMom]

60. All it takes is any guy who isn't the one making the judgement. nt

[Old and In the Way]

21. If women can't get birth control, stop having sex.

Start a national moratorium on sex....a sex strike! That'll get the young males politically motivated.

[Horse with no Name]

59. With "men" passing laws such as this

women not agreeing to sex would certainly lead to an increase in rapes and child molestation.
Of that, I have no doubt.
And the backslide that our country is doing now...my guess is in 4 more years...rape will be considered legal.

[eyesroll]

22. THIS IS NOT A LAW YET, people.

The Senate hasn't looked at it.
The Governor will veto it, and there isn't veto-proof support for this.

Wisconsin hasn't limited anything. And the bill itself doesn't prohbit all contraception, as the article says -- non-hormonal methods aren't mentioned, and regular oral contraception is a gray area. There is some very bad reporting in this.

(Not that AB343 is at all a good idea. But there is NO BAN IN EFFECT, no law passed yet, and there won't be.)

On edit: Yes, this is an op-ed, not a news article. But op-eds still need to be based on truths.

[Pacifist Patriot]

24. Thank you! I'm glad I read your response before allowing

my blood pressure to rise too high.

:thumbsup:

[jane_pippin]

29. Thanks for the clarification

I think you're right that it won't go anywhere--I went to UW Madison and *gasp* got my birth control from the University Hospital (clearly, I'm a damnable sinner :sarcasm: ). I can't imagine them turning women away, nor can I imagine Doyle saying this is ok.

That said, this law pure lunacy and we would all do well to pay attention and scream about it as loud as we can, in my opinion.

I'm going to go do some checking up on my state reps now. Maybe drop them a line. You know, to say "WHAT THE FUCK COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE THINKING," or something to that effect should they be crazy enough to support this.

[eyesroll]

35. Oh, absolutely, scream and holler.

My rep is John Richards, and no way in hell would he vote for a bill like this.

My senator is Jeff Plale, a supposedly pro-life Democrat, so we'll see. (And, yes, I've written.)

The law itself is only supposed to ban post-coital hormonal contraception (do a Google search and you'll be able to download a pdf of it), which does mean EC, and could be extended to mean regular birth-control pills (as they can be used in overdose as EC), and perhaps hormonal IUDs (as they can be inserted to prevent implantation).

But it doesn't prevent Depo, doesn't prevent Norplant (unless there is some post-coital use of them that I'm not aware of), and surely doesn't prevent condoms, spermicides, diaphragms, sponges, etc.

That said, it is a terrible horrible no good very bad bill and it needs to die a quick and fiery death. But it doesn't do everything the op/ed says it does.

[jane_pippin]

43. Hey, neighbor! They're my reps too.

Plale--nice guy to talk to but yeah, I disagree with him more than I'd like to. We'll see is right.

Limiting options for women on college campuses is just plain stupid. I've um, used the "post-coital" contraception from the University as well. I wasn't happy that I had to, but I was extremely grateful I could get it. I just hope other women will have the same freedom I had.

And I agree, it won't go anywhere now, but Doyle won't be there forever and being vocal about it can't hurt. Anyway. Time to let Plale know what's up.

[rodeodance]

33. true--but "red' has crept into our legislature and we need to be proactive

and email call our reps, governor, news media etc etc.

[eyesroll]

36. See my last reply.

Yes, scream and holler, but do so with the correct info.

[LynzM]

23. Because this makes SO much sense...

:sarcasm:

Good fucking grief. Take away the birth control, or make it harder to get, and we all know everyone will just stop having sex. Morons.

[rodeodance]

25. WI is slowly turning red. I grew up in the Fight Bob Lafollette era.

Scary scary.

[Lars39]

26. Anyone in doubt now of these RW asshole's goals?

They don't want women educated either.

[TimeChaser]

38. That was my take on it

Women should be havin' babies, not gettin' edumacated.
:eyes:

[Pirate Smile]

27. I sent this to the Huffington Post. Will someone send it to Olberman?

I can't because my friggin Outlook doesn't work.

Thanks.

We should send it to the Daily Show also. This is INSANE.

edit to add - I realized this isn't a law and will be vetoed but just the fact that the Republicans would pass it shows how absurd they have become. What century is it again?

[rodeodance]

28. and Wisconsinites need to email and call their reps NOW!

[rodeodance]

31. can you give us their email addresses please. thanx in advance.

[Pirate Smile]

41. Here is Countdown. I always have a hard time finding the Daily Show.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

[SoCalDem]

32. Gee THAT's gonna work out well

:eyes:

we all know how college students NEVER drink a bit too much and get...well..carried away..:eyes:

Let's hope that at least one person in the group has a car, so they can travel some distance to get their needs tended to ..

These wackos aren't satisfied with controlling their own little darlings, they just HAVE to mess with everyone else's kids too:grr:

NO ONE IS FORCING THE RELIGIOUS UPTIGHT RIGHTIES to take the pill..

That's like me saying that since I am overweight, ALL fattening food simply MUST be banned..I might be tempted otherwise:grr:

[lukasahero]

37. I assume this includes condoms?

Oh no silly, because only women who have sex in college are promiscuous.

I am so f*cking sick of this sh*t.

[Pirate Smile]

39. Here is some more information:

Unconstitutional bill prohibiting birth control on University of Wisconsin campuses takes another step forward

A bill, deemed unconstitutional by the Wisconsin Attorney General, would ban University of Wisconsin women from accessing birth control if passed into law, and WisPolitics.com reports that it took its first step in that direction Thursday when it was passed by the Wisconsin Assembly.

See more articles like this one at www.Newstarget.com

Original news summary: (http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=39005)

-The Wisconsin Assembly continued its assault on a woman's right to basic health care late last night, by passing yet another bill to ban adult women's access to birth control on all UW college campuses.
-The UW Birth Control Ban, AB 343, passed by a 53 to 45 vote (including 'paired' votes for absent legislators).
-The UW Birth Control Ban aims to prohibit the prescribing, dispensing and advertising of birth control on UW Systems property.
-In a March 15, 2005 news release, State Representative Daniel LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) announced his plans to introduce a bill to prohibit the UW System from prescribing and dispensing all prescription birth control, including emergency contraception, because of his belief that contraception contributes to promiscuity.
-"It's an insult to women to even suggest that the accessibility of EC or birth control would make them act in a promiscuous manner," said PPAWI Political Director and Staff Attorney Chris Taylor.
-In Wisconsin, access to birth control helps prevent 35,200 unintended pregnancies and 17,600 abortions each year (Alan Guttmacher Institute).
-According to University Health Services (UHS) in Madison, since EC has become more readily available to women, positive pregnancy tests have dropped from 13 percent to seven percent.
-"Plan B, the most common form of EC, is one of the safest medications a woman can take.
-In fact, when considering whether EC should be sold over-the-counter, two different U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committees voted overwhelmingly for over-the-counter access," said Taylor.
-Currently, UHS in Madison is staffed by a violence prevention specialist who works with the health care professionals to counsel and treat victims of sexual assault.
-"Representatives who voted for this bill have truly failed the women of this state."

http://www.newstarget.com/008885.html

[SemperEadem]

46. actually

-"Representatives who voted for this bill have truly failed the women of this state."

it should read "Representatives who voted for this bill truly hate the women of this state."

[tsuki]

66. Why isn't this bill accompanied by a bill making the penalties for rape

more harsh?

[SemperEadem]

40. that sounds unconstitutional

do they ban the sale of Viagra on those same campuses?

This is medical discrimination against young women. It sets up a two tiered society in Wisconsin in that males have full access to all medications, even those as unnatural and unneeded as viagra, but women are denied medicines which their doctors legally prescribe to them.

While they're at it, they should ban heterosexual activity by males on Wisconsin campuses, as that is the leading cause of unwanted pregnancy. Oh!! Is that too much of an invasion of privacy?

It should be challenged and overturned as being unconstitutional.

[booley]

42. I think some of us forget

that the legal basis for roev wade and even other stuff Lawrence v Texas was a contraception case.

At one time states could outlaw contraception to anybody, even married couples. when the then SCOTUS struck such laws down, it opened the doors to the rest.

we seem to have forgotton that. But the Theo-cons haven't.

[knitter4democracy]

48. My SIL was drugged and raped after her summer finals.

Thank God it was in New York City and that she went to a hospital with the police. Otherwise, if she'd been in Wisconsin at college, she wouldn't have gotten EC.

Those f'n scum. That's all they are. Scum.

[dsc]

49. Remember all the pharmacist threads

this is why I took the position I took. If you give the state the power to require that pharmacists stock bc and other things, then you give the state the power to forbid pharmacists from stocking bc and other things. I wouldn't have guessed Wisconsin but I am not surprised some state is trying this. When you give governments power they use it in ways you might not wish them do use it. I am sure none of you will line up to apologize for calling me anti woman and other things, but this is exactly and precisely the thing I said could happen.

[DELUSIONAL]

50. So this means that the married women students

can't get birth control either.

Most college campuses have married students housing. . .

Dumb ass politicians.

[endarkenment]

51. my Color Coded National Insanity Alert System

Just went from Yellow to Orange.

Note to self: investigate emmigration seriously.

[johannes1984]

52. GODDAMN BASTARDS

Where do those gastardly excuses for human beings get the balls to claim a wisdom so wise and profound it affects other people .


Seriously , i always figured by this time , if not the populace , the students would be raising hell ......but i guess with yearly cost of college around what 10-15 thousand dollars that kinda becomes impossible ...

i feel so sorry for you guys , seeing the US of A , of all countries turn into a dark hole of evil dick wagging and repression makes anyone weary .

[RetroLounge]

53. This will be Vetoed

RL

[Iris]

55. Yes. I believe I saw an article at Salon that said as much.

It's outrageous that it even got this far.

[paineinthearse]

54. Wisconcin used to be a progressive state

What happened?

[Tsiyu]

56. Aren't college-age people actually ADULTS?

Since when it it acceptable for one set of adults to dictate to another set how they will conduct their private lives in America?

This is absolutely the most stunning setback a state could make. Hope Wisconsin has a huge budget for all the welfare and state-provided maternal care the new moms and babes will need under this plan.

And looks like I've never been to Wisconsin and I never want to go. Ever. Or until someone with sense repeals this shit.

*Knock, Knock. Is this AMERICA???????*

On edit: just read that it's not yet law. Good. My nerves are much calmer now, but everyone should still put in their two cents on this thread and mail a copy to the fucknuts who thought this one up.:yoiks:

[jazzjunkysue]

57. Guess they don't want anyone getting educated in Minnesota

'cause no one will enroll next year. Sell all your university stock! Glad I'm not on the faculty there. Watch the entire state empty out in a year.

They want all their young women stupid and pregnant.

Now, imagine you're a junior or senior guy in high school, trying to choose a college? Think you'll go to a minnesota college?

These fools will see all this blow up in their faces, and it will all be repealed.

I'm so friggin' tired of the mickey mouse delusional control freaks called repugs. At this point, I figure, anyone who's a card carrying repug isn't getting any, and probably hasn't for a couple decades.

Cue the Church Lady.

[Warren DeMontague]

58. You've. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me.

Oh, yeah, no one is having sex at Madison.

Good grief.

[tyedyeto]

61. This country is trying to go full circle to where it was in

the late 1950's to 60's.

I may be among the 'older' generation, but I thought that college women were 18 years of age and older. Yes, there may be a few who graduated high school early and may be 17, but most are adults who should be able to make decisions for themselves.

This legilation looks to me like it is being passed for minors, not adults. Women are getting getting the shaft once again with the neocon mindset of today. A disgrace for all that women have had to fight for during the past decades.

[LittleClarkie]

63. What about those who take the pill

because they need it to regulate their period. There are other uses for the pill that aren't even contraceptive related.

That sucks.

[Massacure]

64. I thought Doyle was going to veto this?

[I Have A Dream]

65. When will the madness end?

It's as though we're living in a nightmare where commonsense just doesn't exist any longer. I keep expecting people to jump up and scream that they're just not going to take it anymore. It just never seems to happen. It's like death by a thousand cuts.

[jmowreader]

67. They still sell chastity belts, right?

And saying no works perfectly well.

(Yes, my venom gland is still functioning...)

The fundies are going to keep on pushing their way across the country until no woman will have access to birth control. Ceaucescu's Romania, here we come!

Guys, it's time to elect me president. As president I promise to revoke the tax exemption of any church that starts playing politics. If you want to play like politicians, you pay like politicians.