Wisconsin is apparently determined to move ahead in the Stupid State Olympics. While previous contenders for the podium have included Florida for its ban on adoptions by gay parents, Alabama for its ban on sex toys, and Kansas for fighting over the teaching of evolution, Wisconsin legislators now want to make it illegal for University of Wisconsin students to purchase Plan B contraception.
The legislation would prohibit University of Wisconsin System health centers from advertising, prescribing or dispensing emergency contraception — drugs that can block a pregnancy in the days after sex. The state university system has 161,000 students on 26 campuses.
Republican Rep. Daniel LeMahieu introduced the bill after a health clinic serving UW-Madison students published ads in campus newspapers inviting students to call for prescriptions for the drug to use on spring break.
“Are we going to change the lifestyle of every UW student? No,” LeMahieu said. “But we can tell the university that you are not going to condone it, you are not going to participate in it, and you are not going to use our tax dollars to do it.”
Let’s just parse that statement, shall we? are we going to change the lifestyle of every UW student?
No. Because, overwhelmingly, Plan B contraception is prescribed to and purchased by women. So, apparently, it’s not going to have any effect on UW male students.
No. Because those who can’t get Plan B contraception may find themselves pregnant. Some will decide to have an abortion. Some will decide to carry the child to term. And some will be lucky enough to find out that sperm and egg never met. But no doubt somebody’s lifestyle is going to be affected.
No. Because the governor of Wisconsin, Jim Doyle, has already announced he’s going to veto the bill. Good on you, governor.
Representative LeMahieu has apparently not gotten the word that we still have a right to privacy in this country, that prescriptions are between doctors and patients, and that, well, he needs to knock this shit off.
Drop him a line and let him know that, won’t you?
