Kathleen Vinehout - the next Governor of Wisconsin!

[tanglefoot]

23. Just so everyone here knows - Kathleen Vinehout is not Pro-choice.

When she first ran in 2006, she ran as a pro-choice candidate. But in her first term, she backed out on several pledges to her constituents - starting with this one:

http://www.prochoicewisconsin.org/news/press/200803122.shtml

Sen. Vinehout Breaks Campaign Promise to Women: Vinehout Leads Effort to Allow Pharmacists to Deny Women Birth Control

Posted: 03/12/2008

Madison, WI - In a shocking move yesterday afternoon, State Senator Kathleen Vinehout broke her campaign pledge to Wisconsin women, gutting the Birth Control Protection Act with "poison pill" amendments that would actually make it easier for pharmacists to withhold birth control than under existing law.

"We are extremely disappointed that Sen. Vinehout has turned her back on the women of this state, aligning herself instead with extremist special interest groups that oppose all birth control," said Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. "Voters should be able to trust the promises our political leaders make - unfortunately, those who voted for Sen. Vinehout based on her stated platform as a pro-choice, pro-birth control, women's health advocate no longer can."

As a candidate, Vinehout painted herself as a health care reformer who would fight to increase access to health care for all, including reproductive health care for women. Her reversal on the issue of whether pharmacists can withhold birth control from women on personal ideological grounds, then, is stunning - particularly because of overwhelming public support for legislation to stop this practice. Not only would her proposal weaken patient protections in existing law, it is worse than many of the so-call "conscience clauses" that NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin helped to defeat in recent legislative sessions.

In seeking an endorsement, Vinehout answered NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin PAC's questionnaire, specifically addressing the growing problem of pharmacy refusals:
Question: "Will you support legislation requiring pharmacists to fill all valid prescriptions regardless of pharmacist's personal ideology?"
Answer: "Yes."

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I haven't posted at DU for awhile. But as her constituent, I felt I needed to stop lurking and make a statement