On Nov. 7, students will have a very important choice to make. It is a choice between two gubernatorial candidates who differ on every possible issue. It is a choice between voting for the candidate who supports you as a student, or backing the candidate who votes against you whenever possible.
When you head to the polls Nov. 7, remember that while?U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay intrudes on the lives of students with nearly every decision he makes, Gov. Jim Doyle has stood up and fought for students' rights on as many fronts as possible.
Green wants to eliminate a woman's right to choose, even co-authoring bills that would overturn Roe v. Wade. If Green is elected, he plans to try to make women's choice a felony in Wisconsin, with absolutely no exceptions—even in severe cases of rape, incest or the health of the mother.
On a college campus where rape is an all-too-present danger, my biggest fear is that if I were raped, there would be no options available to me because of people like Green.
As a woman, it comforts me to know that Gov. Doyle respects my rights as an individual and supports my ability to choose, even in the face of a hostile Republican Legislature.
Green also wants to eliminate students' rights to birth control and contraceptives on campus. In fact, he opposes all rights to birth control, period.
What Green actually does support is even more frightening—the congressman thinks any pharmacist should have the right to deny a prescription for birth control or any other medication based on his or her own personal views.
This translates into a pharmacist placing his or her religious beliefs above doctors' medical decisions. There are many women who depend on birth control, not to solely prevent pregnancy, but to prevent severe medical consequences. Many doctors who prescribe birth control for their patients confirm this.
Who knows what is better for your health: your doctors or a pharmacist? We may be college students, but we are still adults. And we should be allowed to decide what is best for our own bodies, not some career politician in Washington.
Thankfully, Doyle vetoed the bill that would have given pharmacists power over doctors' decisions and opposed legislation that called for prohibiting emergency contraception from being offered on college campuses.
Throughout his time in office, Doyle has agreed with many medical professionals in advocating for making emergency contraception available over-the-counter. The governor even gave the attorney general the green light to sue the FDA for delaying the approval of the ""Plan B"" pill to those who need it, when they need it.?
Doyle understands that Wisconsin women—including college students—are intelligent individuals who have the right to make choices about their bodies and do not need a congressman in Washington or the pharmacist saying otherwise. Doyle has and will continue to fight for women's rights and access to health care.
But women's rights are not the only rights Green wants to undermine if he is elected. Green has repeatedly cut financial aid for students—including $12 billion just last February.
Green wants to stop the potentially life-saving embryonic stem-cell research being conducted right here at UW-Madison, research that Doyle has consistently championed. Green even wants to eliminate rights and protections for loving, committed families who are unmarried by writing discrimination into our constitution.
Doyle believes we should not write discrimination into our state constitution, and that we should be working on the issues that really matter to Wisconsin families, instead of finding ways to divide people like this amendment does. Doyle supports the rights of all Wisconsin citizens, but especially the rights of students.
Green's views, however, are way out of the mainstream. Green's views should frighten students—male and female alike—throughout Wisconsin. Green's idea of ""making Wisconsin great again"" essentially entails sending women back to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant.
His idea of ""making Wisconsin great again"" means eliminating choice, cutting financial support for students, shutting down life-saving research and eliminating the possibility of civil unions for all citizens.
As long as he is governor, Doyle will fight to protect women's right to choose, students' rights and will fight to increase financial aid and make college more affordable. ?And as long as he is governor, Doyle will fight to protect voters from people like Green, who wants to eliminate rights with every step he takes.?
Voting in this election is vital to preserving rights. Vote to protect women's rights. Vote to protect your rights as students. Vote for Doyle, a governor who will continue to fight to move Wisconsin ""Forward.""
