U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra made stops Friday at a health clinic in Cudahy and the UWM Nursing Simulation Lab.
His stated mission: to highlight the Biden administration’s continued support for reproductive rights ahead of this weekend’s 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe vs. Wade, upholding abortion rights across the U.S.
Last summer, the Court struck down those rights in what is known as the Dobbs decision, returning abortion regulations back to the states. Since the Dobbs decision, an 1849 law banning abortion in Wisconsin has been in effect.
In Cudahy, Becerra heard from local and state health care providers who say Wisconsin law prevents them from providing pregnant women with the full range of care. Although, under a change made by the Biden Administration, some care clinics in the state that receive federal funding are now able to discuss abortion with patients and possibly refer them to abortion providers in other states such as Minnesota and Illinois.
In response to a question from WUWM, Becerra promised continued funding of the federal family planning program known as Title X. “Not enough, obviously, because we haven’t been able to get enough resources (from Congress.) But we we’re trying to be as surgical, if I may use the word, as we can be in the way we distribute money to make sure we’re providing the most efficient family planning services possible,” he said.
Becerra continued, “We’re also making sure we can make services and treatment available to patients — like in the case of medication abortion — where possible and provide the information people need so they can have access”.
Becerra also promised to enforce privacy rights for providers and patients and said he supports a lawsuit filed last summer by Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and State Atty. Gen. Josh Kaul to overturn the Wisconsin Act of 1849. The case is pending in Dane County.
Republicans who control the state legislature have raised the possibility of adding limited exceptions to the 174-year-old statute, but say they are unwilling to restore reproductive rights taken away by the Dobbs decision.
At UW-Milwaukee, Becerra met with several dozen nursing and other health care students. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) and Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) also attended that event.
Baldwin later told WUWM that she hopes Becerra offered optimism. “In the roles that we have, we have to have hope and we have to have some level of optimism that our work will result in the change that we want to see,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin said today’s health care students will eventually “practice in a situation where federal and state law does not guarantee that they can keep their oath,” to adequately care for the sick.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin took a dim view of Becerra’s visit, issuing a statement that said, in part, “State residents continue to worry about inflation, failing schools and rampant crime, but the Biden administration and Democrats Wisconsin chooses to focus on abortion because they have no choice.”
