Senator Johnson Again Calling for a Statewide Referendum on Abortion Rights

Wednesday, April 26th, 2023 -- 11:01 AM

(By Evan Casey, Wisconsin Public Radio) Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson is once again calling for a statewide "one-time, single-issue referendum" on abortion rights.

The call comes after Republican state lawmakers rejected calls from Gov. Tony Evers and Democrats to put an advisory referendum on the ballot last fall asking voters if the state should continue to ban abortions in almost all cases.

"I think we the people ought to decide that," Johnson said during a Milwaukee Press Club event Monday afternoon. Johnson first pushed for the referendum during his reelection campaign last fall.

Monday, he again called for it, just weeks after Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz, who has voiced support for abortion rights, handed liberals a majority on the state Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years.

"I have a hard time believing people would allow abortion past about 12 weeks," Johnson said Monday. "But at the same time I'll say ... again I'm not a woman, and I'm also very mindful of that, but it takes time to realize you're pregnant, not always, but oftentimes." 

Under Johnson's plan, voters would have 10 options as to when, and if, abortion should be allowed. Those options would begin with "from the moment of conception" and end with "never, an unborn child has no right to life."

Leading up to the vote, Johnson said there would be an "education campaign," which would include forums by anti-abortion and abortion-rights groups. Nationally, polls show the majority of Americans want abortion to be legal.

A March Marquette University Law School national poll found 67 percent of respondents opposed the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

Last fall, non-binding referendums in Dane County and the city of Racine also showed overwhelming support for overturning the state's pre-Civil War abortion ban.

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