GREEN BAY – The Republican nominee for governor in state polls now says he is “not against contraception” after previously refusing to say whether he would sign legislation banning emergency contraception, known as Plan B.
“I’m against abortion, I’m not against contraception,” Tim Michels, a construction manager endorsed by former President Donald Trump, said in an interview with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin on Tuesday when asked if he had a will sign bill as governor banning Plan B.
Michels made the remarks at a campaign stop in Green Bay, which began a two-day, nationwide tour of the northern parts of the state. The tour comes less than a month before a primary election on August 9 during which he will meet former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and state rep. Tim Ramthun will encounter.
Kleefisch undertook not to ban Plan B as the investigation into Republican candidates’ views on emergency contraception comes under scrutiny in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that halted abortion procedures in the state.
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Earlier this month, Michels declined to say whether he would sign legislation banning emergency contraception after the Milwaukee Journal sent Sentinel audio of a local GOP event in Calumet County asking how he would handle “abortion pills passed as contraceptives. not. “
In the audio, a participant of the event asks Michels, “I’m worried about babies’ lives being lost as a result of these abortion pills being passed on as contraception. … What are your plans to deal with it?”
Michels told the contestant “they will be illegal in Wisconsin.” A campaign spokesman told the Journal Sentinel the contestant was asking about medication abortions, not Plan B. But he will not answer whether Michels will sign legislation banning emergency contraception.
Emergency contraception, known as morning-after-pills, is legal and can stop ovulation, block fertilization, or prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in a woman’s uterus if taken within three days of sexual intercourse. The pills do not terminate pregnancies by expelling fertilized eggs that have already been implanted in the uterus.
Wisconsin hospital nurses and doctors are instructed by a 2008 law to inform victims of sexual assault about her right to emergency contraception and to provide the pills upon request.
Women in states like Wisconsin where abortion bans come into effect after Roe’s overthrow have supplemented such pills to address unplanned pregnancies that may occur under the state’s ban in the future.
Contact Sophia Voight and Molly Beck at svoight@postcrescent.com and molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow on Twitter @sophia_voight and @mollybeck.
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