Latest Gov. Walker Appointee Adds to Extreme Agenda in Opposition to Birth Control

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker’s latest appointee to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents works for an anti-reproductive choice organization that touts its work to warn women of, “the dangers of contraception and promiscuity,” according to media reports. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted a pattern of Walker nominees with views on birth control far outside the mainstream. Rebecca Bradley who, prior to an unprecedented three judicial appointments in just three years, wrote in support of allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill a woman’s birth control prescription that has been written by a doctor and compared the use of birth control to murder.

“Gov. Walker has appointed a UW Regent who’s employed by an organization that brags of providing misleading information and trying to keep birth control from women,” said Ross. “It’s no surprise that a deceitful politician like Scott Walker would make an appointment like this.”

The Capital Times reported late last week that:

“Lisa Erickson of Osceola was appointed to fill the non-traditional student slot on the Board of Regents. The mother of four, Erickson is a crisis pregnancy counselor at Tri-County Life Care Center, an affiliate of Minnesota-based network TLC Options for Women. The organization has long “warned not only of the horror of abortion but also the dangers of contraception and promiscuity,” according to its website.”

In a column she wrote for an online publication prior to her judicial appointments by Walker, Rebecca Bradley expressed her own extreme views on birth control – comparing it to murder and supports allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill a woman’s birth control prescription that has been written by a doctor. When questioned by the media, Bradley through a spokesperson refused to comment on, or disavow, the radical views she expressed.

Gov. Walker has also recently signed in to law measures passed by the Republican controlled legislature to limit access to comprehensive care for thousands of Wisconsin families by seeking to divert funds for reproductive health care provided by Planned Parenthood and to reduce their reimbursement rates for providing birth control and family planning through the Medical Assistance program.

Ross concluded, “Legal birth control and access to it shouldn’t be an issue in 2016. But with their extreme views, Scott Walker and his appointees seem determined to roll back the clock for Wisconsin women and their families.”