Posted on December 19, 2011
Governor Scott Walker signed $66 billion budget legislation on June 16 that included a $1 million cut to Planned Parenthood. Nine clinics were eliminated by the budget cuts that provided low-cost health care to approximately 12,000 uninsured women.
The reasons? There’s just plain ignorance. There’s also being a sellout to the radical theocratic American Taliban that he is a part of and gets thousands of dollars from in campaign contributions. There seems to be a pathological pattern where he seems to enjoy signing legislation like the simple-minded abstinence-only “sex education” that actually endangers Wisconsin teens’ health by not being honest about sex health prevention as well as will cause more teen pregnancies.
With theocratic extremists like Julaine Appling of Wisconsin Family Action whispering in Walker’s ear to take away reproductive choice for women as well as other puritanical, fanatical, anti-science antics that threaten Wisconsin’s future as an international biotech center, Walker has made cuts to the Wisconsin Well Program, a state service created to ensure that women (ages 45 to 64) who can’t afford health insurance can access to preventive health screenings and providing referrals and screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and multiple sclerosis at no cost. There are a number of contractors that provide those services and included Planned Parenthood.
Affected health departments in Fond du Lac, Outagamie, Sheboygan, and Winnebago counties have contracted out the coordination of the Wisconsin Well Program to the Planned Parenthood office in Menasha, Wisconsin. Doctors found 15 cases of cervical and breast cancer in the 1,260 women screened in those counties in 2010. Real lives will be affected by Walker’s extremist zealotry and there is clear evidence about how this decision will put womens’ lives in danger of dying:
“I’m very worried about the women that we serve, and the actions taken to remove Planned Parenthood from the Well Woman program are really cold-hearted and a huge disservice to the women in our communities,” Well Woman program coordinator Kristen Biese said.
It was only a month ago when Carol Lechner found a lump in her breast. With no health insurance, she turned to Planned Parenthood for help.
“You talked to an actual person, you didn’t talk to a machine. Every time I called, I talked to Kristen in person. I went into the office, she was excellent. She got all the paperwork done, she got me signed up for it.”
The Wisconsin Well Woman program helped Lechner receive the treatment she needed, including a lumpectomy earlier this week.
Lechner says if it weren’t for Planned Parenthood and the Well Woman program, she would never have received the lifesaving treatment she did.
“Planned Parenthood and Kristen have been my support through this, besides my mom and dad, so it’s really good to have people like that on your side, because it is scary,” Lechner said.
Governor Walker defended the decision, reiterating that the program is not being eliminated — how it’s administered is simply being changed.
“The program is still in place. The Well Woman, in particular to make sure women have access to exams for cancer and other things, is funding. It’s in place. We’re just not contracting with Planned Parenthood to do that,” Governor Walker said.
No reason for the decision was given, but the governor said, “There’s other providers throughout the state who have that. Planned Parenthood is not the sole provider of that. There are many clinics that are not as controversial as Planned Parenthood, and our goal was to make sure low-income women had access to those sorts of screenings from other providers around the state that don’t carry the controversy you get with Planned Parenthood.”
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Walker, by making his careless decision, has proven he doesn’t care about the health and well-being of Wisconsin women. For all he cares, they can just die.
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