Wisconsin Family Action Responds to Dane County Judge’s Ruling on WI’s pre-Roe abortion ban

Wisconsin Family Action Responds to Dane County Court Judge Ruling on Wisconsin’s
Pre-Roe Abortion Ban

MADISON – Today, Dane County Judge Diane Schlipper determined that the court case challenging Wisconsin’s pre-Roe law will continue rather than be dismissed.

Last December, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski filed a brief asking the court to dismiss this case that Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed last year just days after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs decision.

Wisconsin Family Action president Julaine Appling responded to today’s court decision.

“While we are certainly disappointed that the judge did not dismiss this case, we are hardly surprised. We have all along believed those advocating for abortion at basically any time in a pregnancy wanted this case to go to the state Supreme Court—but not until after August 1, when Justice-elect Janet Protaciewicz is seated on the court, changing the ideological balance from 4-3 conservative to 4-3 liberal. When campaigning, Justice-elect Protaciewicz made it abundantly clear that she is pro-abortion.

“Judge Schlipper used some telling language in her decision, saying that the pre-Roe law, Chapter 940.04, doesn’t apply to abortion, but rather only to the practice of feticide. We completely disagree. The title of the section of the state statutes where 940.04 is located is ‘Abortion” and (1) of 940.04 clearly states “intentionally destroys the life of an unborn child.” Feticide is commonly defined as abortion.

For years abortion advocates in our state have been trying to revoke this statute, arguing that when Roe was in effect, that the statute was superfluous. They also knew it would be enforceable in the event that Roe was eventually overturned, which is what motivated their ongoing efforts. The statute bans the killing of an unborn baby unless the mother’s life is endangered.

“Activist judges at all levels of our judicial system will obviously find creative ways to interpret this law. This too is not surprising. We will now watch as this case moves through that system, and pro-life Wisconsin citizens will be watching and listening closely to see who the truly independent, rule-of-law, originalist jurists are in the courts where this lawsuit is being and will be handled.

“Regardless of any decision by any court, Wisconsin Family Action will continue to be as aggressive as possible in defense of the unborn in Wisconsin as well as caring for mothers who are in crisis pregnancies. Both are worthy of and in need of help and compassion.”

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Wisconsin Family Action, Inc. is a statewide organization engaged in strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life, and religious freedom in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Family Action Responds to SCOTUS Decision Affirming First Amendment

Wisconsin Family Action Responds to SCOTUS Decision Affirming First Amendment
First Amendment Protects All from Government Coercion

MADISON – Last Friday the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 decision holding that “The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.”

Justice Gorsuch in the majority opinion writes that “The First Amendment’s protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy. The Nation’s answer is tolerance, not coercion. The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands.”

The ruling is a major victory for those who do not want government telling them what to say or what messages they must create. That goes for the liberal publisher who does not want to publish a book with conservative views, as well as for the religious website designer who does not want to promote weddings that violate her religious beliefs.

The ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis acknowledges the difference between disagreement and discrimination by distinguishing between serving all people and promoting all messages. Lorie Smith, owner of 303 Creative, happily designs websites for all customers but cannot create messages that run counter to her deeply held beliefs. Her decision is based on the message, not the person. The Court affirms that difference.

Colorado’s law attempted to force Smith to design wedding websites with a message she did not agree with. Alliance Defending Freedom successfully argued the case, and all Americans are now freer for it.

Regardless of what one believes about a certain political or social issue, this ruling protects the right of all Americans to disagree with government, while also upholding a prohibition on discrimination based on the traits of a particular person or group.

Wisconsin Family Action filed an amicus brief along with other state allies urging the Court’s decision in favor of Lorie Smith.

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Wisconsin Family Action, Inc. is a statewide organization engaged in strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life, and religious freedom in Wisconsin.

 

Explanation of Referenda Questions on Spring 2023 Statewide Ballot

REFERENDA QUESTIONS ON WISCONSIN STATEWIDE BALLOT
SPRING 2023 – ELECTION DAY, APRIL 4, 2023

The state legislature has approved three (3) referenda questions on the statewide ballot for this spring’s nonpartisan general election.

Questions 1 and 2 are “binding” referenda, meaning if they pass, the state constitution will be amended to include language as reflected in the questions. If they fail, the state constitution will not be amended.

Here are the questions taken directly from the ballot, with some annotation Wisconsin Family Council is supplying to help voters understand what each question involves. Simply put, both questions give judges more flexibility when setting bail. Voters indicate either “yes” or “no” in response to the questions.

State of Wisconsin Conditions of Release Before Conviction Referendum – Question 1

QUESTION 1: “Conditions of release before conviction. Shall section 8 (2) of article I of the constitution be amended to allow a court to impose on an accused person being released before conviction conditions that are designed to protect the community from serious harm?”

Question 1 is about whether or not a judge can consider “serious harm” (public safety) when setting conditions of bail.  A “yes” vote will amend the Wisconsin constitution as noted; a “no” vote means the noted section of the Wisconsin constitution will remain as it currently is.

Under current law, judges can only consider conditions that prevent the risk of death or potentially life-threatening injury. For example, a pedophile awaiting trial currently can’t be prevented from going to a playground as a condition of bail, because that condition (banning the pedophile from playgrounds) isn’t really necessary to prevent a risk of injury potentially resulting in death. It would just be preventing sexual assault.

State of Wisconsin Cash Bail Before Conviction Referendum – Question 2

QUESTION 2: “Cash bail before conviction. Shall section 8 (2) of article I of the constitution be amended to allow a court to impose cash bail on a person accused of a violent crime based on the totality of the circumstances, including the accused’s previous convictions for a violent crime, the probability that the accused will fail to appear, the need to protect the community from serious harm and prevent witness intimidation, and potential affirmative defenses?”

Question 2 deals with whether a judge can consider the “totality of the circumstances” when setting cash bail for violent crimes. A “yes” vote will amend the Wisconsin constitution as noted; a “no” vote means the noted section of the Wisconsin constitution will remain as it currently is.

Currently in Wisconsin a judge is limited to a single factor (flight risk) when setting cash bail. This question allows a judge to look at additional factors (past criminal convictions, serious harm, etc.) when setting cash bail for violent crimes.

The third question on the statewide ballot is strictly advisory, meaning if the “yes” votes outnumber the “no” votes, nothing changes in our law; and if the “no” votes outnumber the “yes” votes nothing changes in our law. The state legislature put this question to the voters to get a sense of what citizens think about this issue. The question is very straight-forward.

State of Wisconsin Welfare Benefits Referendum – Question 3

QUESTION 3: “Shall able-bodied, childless adults be required to look for work in order to receive taxpayer-funded welfare benefits?”

A printable pdf of this post is available HERE.

Wisconsin Family Action Releases 2021-2022 Legislative Scorecard

September 1, 2022

Madison, WI – Today, Wisconsin Family Action (WFA) released its 2021-2022 Legislative Scorecard, giving its assessment of how all thirty-three State Senators and all ninety-nine State Assembly Representatives did this past legislative session. The session began in early January 2021 and floor activity concluded in March of this year.

“Within our mission, we work on or at least track quite a variety of bills during a legislative session. It’s important that citizens get an idea of how their elected officials did relative to those proposals,” said Julaine Appling, WFA president.

This past session, sixteen (16) senators and eleven (11) representatives earned a 100% score from WFA, meaning on all bills scored, these legislators agreed with WFA’s position. 

The 100% senators are Kathy Bernier (R-SD 23), Julian Bradley (R-SD 28), Alberta Darling (R-SD 8), Mary Felzkowski (R-SD 12), Dan Feyen (R-SD 18), André Jacque (R-SD 1), John Jagler (R-SD 13). Chris Kapenga (R-SD 33), Devin LeMahieu (R-SD 9), Steve Nass (R-SD 11), Jerry Petrowski (R-SD 29), Roger Roth (R-SD 19), Rob Stafsholt (R-SD 10), Duey Stroebel (R-SD 20), Van Wanggaard (R-SD 21), and Eric Wimberger (R-SD 30).

Representatives achieving a 100% are Scott Allen (R-A 97), Janel Brandtjen (R-AD 22), Rick Gundrum (R-AD 58), Cody Horlacher (R-AD 33), Dave Murphy (R-AD 56), Kevin Petersen (R-AD 40), Tim Ramthun (R-AD 59), Michael Schraa (R-AD 53), Shae Sortwell (R-AD 2), Jeremy Thiesfeldt (R-AD 52), and Chuck Wichgers (R-AD 83).

“Earning a 100% on our scorecard is not easy. We are proud of these state legislators whose body of work during this past session evidences courage and true commitment to conservative principles and ideas. We congratulate these officials on a job very well done,” noted Appling.

A number of legislators distinguished themselves with scores in the 88%-90% range.

“We are also pleased to recognize the excellent work of those in this group of lawmakers,” Appling commented. “Being an elected official is not easy. It requires tough decisions in pressured situations. We are grateful for those officials who more often than not vote to protect Wisconsin’s families and their freedoms. We encourage citizens to check out the Scorecard to see how their legislators scored.

This edition of WFA’s Scorecard scores eleven (11) bills in the state Senate and eleven (11) bills in the state Assembly. Details on scoring, WFA’s positions, and the bills themselves are available in the Scorecard.

WFA’s 2021-2022 Legislative Scorecard is available online HERE.
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Wisconsin Family Action is a statewide organization engaged in strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life, and religious freedom in Wisconsin.

WISCONSIN FAMILY ACTION RESPONDS TO ATTACK ON ITS OFFICE

MADISON, WIMay 8, 2022 – Early this morning a leftist anarchist group attacked Wisconsin Family Action’s office in Madison, throwing two Molotov cocktails into the office, after breaking windows, and then proceeded to light a fire. The arsonists posted graffiti on the outside of the building near the group’s offices. The message was, “If abortions aren’t safe, then you aren’t either.” Anarchy 1312 took responsibility for the attack, leaving its logo on an outside wall.

Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, issued the following statement:

“While this attack was directly provoked by the leaked draft opinion from the US Supreme Court in the Dobbs case earlier this week, this has far broader implications. Apparently, the tolerance that the left demands is truly a one-way street. Violence has become their answer to everything. This is what happens when leadership is missing or when leadership implies that violence is ok. In 2020, Governor Tony Evers basically looked the other way when violence erupted in Kenosha and Madison. That kind of non-response fosters what happened to us this morning, leaving Wisconsin citizens who disagree with his policies extremely vulnerable to similar violence.

“ In fact, Governor Evers’s response to today’s incident said nothing about demanding a full investigation and criminal prosecution. He just told his supporters he’d keep supporting abortion.

“But this attack fails to frighten us, and instead steels the resolve of law-abiding, common-sense, every-day folks to stand up and push back. We know today it is Wisconsin Family Action getting Molotov cocktails tossed through broken windows and fires ignited, but tomorrow it could be anyone in our state or another state who is attacked because we disagree with a policy or action, give voice to the voiceless, or stand up for what’s right.

“Americans see through the hypocrisy of the left. The violence needs to stop and stop now. It’s not the answer to any question or any problem. Just because the liberals don’t get their way, doesn’t give them license to threaten bodily harm or to burn and destroy.”

“Wisconsin has had enough of this kind of terror condoned by current state and national leaders. But we are still standing. We still support freedom. We love our republic and care for our neighbors. We will repair our offices, remain on the job, and build an even stronger grassroots effort. We will not back down. We will not stop doing what we are doing. Too much is at stake.”

Online copy available HERE.

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