Assemblyman Shae Sortwell made a major announcement this morning (January 19th) regarding the future of abortions in Wisconsin.
In an exclusive interview with Seehafer News, the representative from Two Rivers revealed that the Assembly will be voting on a measure that will limit abortions to the first trimester, much like the laws in Western Europe, but it doesn’t end there.
He told us that even if every legislator in the state and Governor Tony Evers passed it, the measure still wouldn’t be law, not until the people of Wisconsin vote on it in a binding referendum in April.
A binding referendum is a question that is included on an election ballot where, regardless of the outcome, the entity that proposed it would be required to follow the results.
Sortwell also told us that this idea actually stemmed from something Senator Ron Johnson spoke about during his election campaign.
“I kinda took it to heart and kinda dug through the statutes and everything and found out that, in fact, we can put a binding referendum on for a law,” he explained. “I proposed that to leadership, and they took ahold of it.”
While Rep. Sortwell is in favor of the 1849 law on the books, he said this measure is not about the legislator’s opinions.
“When I vote to pass this proposal, I will not be voting to put abortions at 15 weeks or 14 weeks,” he noted. “What I am really voting for is to let the people decide this issue.”
He also stated bluntly that any representative who votes against the measure is doing so because “they don’t want the people to decide this issue.”
Even if it does pass, it will still have to go before the Senate and the Governor, who could veto it if he so chooses.
