State Rep. Chuck Wichgers Promotes Event for Extremist Group That Endorses Death Penalty for Women Who Have Abortions

MADISON, Wis. — In an email obtained by One Wisconsin Now, a Republican State Representative is inviting his colleagues to join him at a meeting in the State Capitol sponsored by an organization that believes elected officials should defy federal courts to ban all abortions and women who get abortions should be subject to capital punishment. The group, Abolish Abortion Wisconsin, is affiliated with the radical activist Matt Trewhella and plans to host an event in the State Capitol on February 7, according to the message to legislators from Rep. Chuck Wichgers.

“This is appalling,” said One Wisconsin Now Research Director Joanna Beilman-Dulin. “The people behind this event are extremists with dangerous views about women and who advocate for violence as a means to impose their radical views on us.”

The goal of the group is to ban all abortions, without exception. On their website they are promoting a petition in which they declare, “… public officials in Wisconsin are bound by solemn oath and moral duty to oppose the Supreme Court’s perversion of the Constitution …” and they, “ … hereby direct every public official in Wisconsin, including, but not limited, to sheriffs, district attorneys, judges and justices, the Attorney General, and the Governor, to exercise their authority as appropriate in their respective jurisdictions …” to ban abortion.

The group also advocates for criminal sanctions, including executions, for women who have abortions. In an article posted on the website they write, “When we are asked what the punishment should be for women who have illegal abortions, we should unashamedly respond – whatever the penalty is for murder in the state where it takes place.”

A page soliciting donations indicates contributions will go to “Missionaries to the Preborn/Abolish Abortion WI”. Matthew Trewhella is the founder of Missionaries to the Preborn. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center research on hate groups Trewhella, “… was one of the first anti-abortion leaders to publicly call for militias … After telling congregants to do ‘the most loving thing’ by buying their children ‘an SKS rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition,’ he said he was teaching his own 16-month-old the location of his ‘trigger finger.’”

Beilman-Dulin concluded, “Rep. Wichgers is not advertising a meeting to have a rational discussion of public policy. Instead he is promoting a repugnant hate group that advocates for lawlessness and violence against women.”