A Wisconsin legislator ranted against contraception as most of his colleagues, including those from his own majority, voted to allow expanded statewide access to birth control.
On Wednesday, the Wisconsin State Assembly voted 82-11 in a bipartisan fashion to allow statewide pharmacists to prescribe contraceptive patches and self-administered oral hormonal contraceptives without a doctor’s prescription. Current state law only allows women to obtain most birth control through a prescription written by a doctor or advanced practice nurse.
Wisconsin state Representative Chuck Wichgers, one of the 11 Republicans who voted against the bill, said Wednesday prior to the bill’s passing that contraception leads to infidelity, a “proliferation of STDs,” and is unnatural.
Currently, 28 states and the District of Columbia allow pharmacists to dispense contraceptives.
The Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill to allow pharmacists to provide contraception without a doctor’s prescription. The bill, which passed in bipartisan fashion and will be voted on by the Senate, was derided by one conservative representative.
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“It opens up the door to marital infidelity, and it did,” Wichgers said, referencing unknown religious leaders. “The government might force contraceptives upon married couples; that’s happened in other countries. So, the government gets to have a role—they get to play ‘supreme ruler.'”
After being booed by some members for his remarks, Wichgers continued on, saying that contraception increases disrespect by men towards women who “have to control the natural reproductive course of the body.”
“Nature has an intention and when you have that act—when pregnancy naturally occurs, that’s nature doing what nature does. The woman then has to counter nature by taking something that is highly systemic and highly invasive, according to the documents and the books that people that are pro the pill stated in their books,” the Republican representative said.
Wichgers continued: “That’s a science. We would begin to see ourselves as the ultimate masters of nature, so when nature does something it’s supposed to do and then we say, ‘Let’s not do that’—we’re talking not about getting a pimple if you eat Doritos and eat chocolate; that would be contrary to a health movement or nature.”
Wisconsin State Rep. Chuck Wichgers (R-Muskego), speaking against access to contraception, says it leads to infidelity, men devaluing women, women thinking they’re better than nature and the “proliferation of STDs.” pic.twitter.com/QK85XlNwFZ
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) June 23, 2023
Bill 176, which will now be considered by the Wisconsin Senate, requires the state’s Pharmacy Examining Board, Board of Nursing and the Department of Health Services to promulgate rules to establish standard procedures. It would also require pharmacists to send a report to the patient’s primary health care practitioner following a prescription, with the “contraceptive to be dispensed as soon as practicable.”
It would also prohibit pharmacists from prescribing or dispensing contraceptives unless patients fill out a self-assessment questionnaire and undergo a blood pressure screening.
Wisconsin state Representative Joel Kitchens, a Republican who authored the bill, lauded the Assembly’s vote as a pragmatic step forward. He cited statistics from the Guttmacher Institute, which says the number of abortions dropped by 25 percent between 2008 to 2014 due to increased access of contraceptives.
“This bill makes it easier for women to get contraceptives, no matter where they live in Wisconsin, and makes sure the drugs are safe for each woman before they get them,” Kitchens said in a statement. “With more access to effective birth control, there will be fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer abortions.”
Wichgers also said that contraception will lead to more sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) due to individuals purportedly worrying less about pregnancy when conducting sexual acts.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in 2021 that there were more than 2.5 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis across the United States. While cases of chlamydia decreased compared to cases reported between 2017 and 2019, the number was higher than in 2020.
More than 700,000 gonorrhea cases were reported in 2021, reflecting a 28 percent increase since 2017. All stages of reported syphilis also jumped dramatically, increasing 74 percent in a four-year period. The CDC estimates that new sexually transmitted infections cost U.S. citizens approximately $16 billion annually in medical costs in 2018.
Wisevoter, a data aggregation platform, estimates that the STD national average is 671.5 per every 100,000 people. Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina lead the nation in the highest rates. Wisconsin ranks 30th per its data.
InnerBody, an online medical testing guide, ranked Wisconsin’s STD average as 41st in the country. Its top three also included Mississippi and Louisiana, but replaced South Carolina with Georgia.
In 2021, Wichgers introduced legislation related to the teaching of anti-racism and anti-sexism in Wisconsin public K-12 and charter schools, including banning the following terms: critical race theory (CRT), anti-racism, equity, intersectionality, land acknowledgment, patriarchy, social justice and systemic oppression.
Newsweek reached out to Wichgers and Democratic Governor Tony Evers via email for comment.
Discovered on: 2023-06-23 20:39:04
Source: Republican Lawmaker Rants About Contraception Going Against Nature
