Early voting started for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race on Tuesday, the same day the candidates held their one and only debate. Abortion rights have been central in the race, and they were a major topic of the debate, with far-right former justice Dan Kelly trying—with a straight face—to deny that he would uphold Wisconsin’s 174-year-old abortion ban if elected.
Conservatives currently hold the Wisconsin Supreme Court, 4 to 3, so this election will decide the majority as challenges to that 1849 abortion ban make their way to the state’s top court.
Early voting has started and the stakes couldn’t be higher. Can you chip in $5 to help restore abortion rights in Wisconsin by electing Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court?
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Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, the liberal candidate for the seat, hammered Kelly on his anti-abortion ties. “My personal opinion is that should be a woman’s right to make a reproductive health decision. Period,” she said. “If my opponent is elected, I can tell you with 100% certainty that (the) 1849 abortion ban will stay on the books.”
Protasiewicz cited Kelly’s endorsements by anti-abortion groups in Wisconsin, with Kelly trying to deny the significance of those endorsements.
“This seems to be a pattern for you, Janet, just tell a lie,” Kelly responded, “You don’t know what I’m thinking about that abortion ban. You have no idea. ... I had no conversations with those organizations about how I would rule on any issue, including the abortion issue.”
Kelly has previously written that abortion “takes the life of an unborn child” and people support abortion rights “to preserve sexual libertinism.”
In a 2016 recommendation letter, the head of Wisconsin Right to Life wrote that Kelly had “provided great counsel to Wisconsin Right to Life in legal manners.” Just the sort of thing an anti-abortion leader writes about someone who is iffy on the issue, right?
This year, the organization changed the wording of how it describes its endorsed candidates after Protasiewicz raised the endorsement in the campaign. Originally, it said, “The Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee endorses candidates who have pledged to champion pro-life values and stand with Wisconsin Right to Life’s legislative strategy.” It then added the sentence, “In judicial elections, the Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee endorses candidates whose judicial philosophies and values fit with those of Wisconsin Right to Life.” Kelly is also endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin, which only endorses candidates “who recognize the personhood of the preborn baby and hold the principled and compassionate no-exceptions pro-life position.”
But according to Dan Kelly, it would be a lie to suggest that his decision on abortion rights is already made.
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