MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday he will sign a measure that's quickly working its way through the Republican-controlled Legislature that would require women seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound.
The Senate debated the measure Tuesday, a week after it was introduced, but Democrats used a procedural move to delay a vote until Wednesday morning. The Assembly hoped to take it up Thursday.
While Democrats were able to temporarily hold up the bill, they don't have the votes to kill it.
Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said the proposal is intended to "tell women they can't think or make decision on their own."
Sen. Tim Cullen, D-Janesville, added the Legislature would interfere in physicians' medical decisions by mandating ultrasounds.
"All of a sudden the Senate is full of doctors." he joked.
The support from Walker, a longtime abortion opponent, was no surprise.
"I don't have any problem with ultrasound," Walker told reporters after a school choice meeting in Milwaukee. "I think most people think ultrasounds are just fine."
Another bill slated be voted on by the Assembly on Thursday would keep certain religious organizations and employers from having to provide health insurance coverage for contraceptives and would prohibit the use of public money to pay for abortion coverage in public employees' health insurance plans. Yet another would ban abortion for gender selection.
"I'm thinking we'd have to look at the final version, but in principle, they seem to be fairly reasonable," Walker said of the health insurance prohibition bill.
Republicans dismissed allegations that they are fast-tracking the abortion-related bills.
"These are issues that have been out there for quite some time," said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Monday. "They're not speeding through without opportunity for public discussion. ... I think most of these are common sense issues."
Rep. Andre Jacque, who is sponsoring the health insurance prohibition bill, also denied that Republicans were moving quickly.
"We are not reinventing the wheel," Jacque said. "The concept (of abortion) is already there."
Senate debate of the ultrasound proposal came a week after Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, introduced it.
Sara Finger, executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health, said that gave her less than 24 hours to analyze the bill and prepare her testimony for hearings.
"This speed of passage sends a clear signal that these legislators want to deny any efforts to ensure due process and are refusing to allow sufficient time for medical providers, advocates, women and their partners to truly weigh in on the anticipated damaging effects of this legislation." Finger said in a statement.
But Barbara Lyons, executive director of anti-abortion group Wisconsin Right to Life also testified last week. She said the group had enough time to digest the bill.
"We are just fine," Lyons said.
Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager at the nonprofit Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, said it's not uncommon for abortion bills to move quickly through state legislatures.
Despite unanimous Republican support, Senate Democrats said they would continue to oppose proposals that would limit women's access to health care and family planning.
