Democratic lawmakers and reproductive health advocates gathered on the Capitol steps Friday to rally for Planned Parenthood, which would face defunding under Gov. Scott Walker's proposed biennial budget.
State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said Planned Parenthood has enjoyed three decades of bipartisan support, but said Walker brought his ideology into health matters.
""I am not a woman, but if I were, I wouldn't want what Governor Walker thinks to come close to my health care decisions,"" Erpenbach told the crowd.
Meg Robertson, a Planned Parenthood nurse practitioner, said she was ""outraged"" with the role politics was playing in health care and asserted the services Planned Parenthood provides are essential for reproductive health.
Wisconsin Right to Life praised Walker for his efforts in ""ensuring that taxpayers are not involved in the taking of human life.""
However, under Wisconsin law state funds are not used for non-medical abortions, so the funding currently being provided to Planned Parenthood goes towards other services.
Although the cut in funding is intended to save the state money, according to state Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison every dollar put into Planned Parenthood saves taxpayers $3.
Other groups have come out in objection to the provisions of Walker's budget regarding reproductive health care. The Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health specifically criticized a piece of the budget that would overturn Wisconsin's Contraception Equality Law, which prevents insurance companies from denying women birth control.
At the rally, Robertson stressed how Planned Parenthood's range of services, including STD tests, cancer screenings and providing of birth control, benefits all Wisconsinites.
""Reproductive health care is basic health care,"" Robertson said.
