While speaking at a Rotary Club of Milwaukee event Tuesday, GOP Senator Ron Johnson said he thinks Wisconsin voters should determine what limits should be placed on abortion access through a statewide referendum. “Nine justices couldn’t decide, I don’t think 535 members of Congress should decide, I don’t think 132 members of the Wisconsin state Legislature should decide this for Wisconsin,” Johnson said. “I think this is the time…for we the people to decide.”
Johnson said he has already put together a sample ballot that includes around ten choices to gauge voters’ opinions on “at what point does society have the responsibility to protect life?” Johnson acknowledged current state law does not allow for such a referendum to be held. However, he did not comment on Governor Tony Evers’ call for a special session asking the State Legislature to pass a law that would allow electors to hold a referendum similar to Johnson’s proposal. Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Johnson’s campaign, did issue a statement following the Rotary event that called Evers’ special session a “political move” that Democrats would use “to divide the public by exploiting the issue of abortion.” Henning went on to say in the statement that “because of the profound nature of this decision, the debate should not be rushed or used as a political instrument, but instead allow enough time for a thorough discussion.”
In response to his call for a statewide referendum, Johnson’s Democratic opponent Mandela Barnes issued a statement that said Johnson was attempting to “hide his extreme record” by “proposing a referendum that even he admitted is ‘not possible in Wisconsin.‘” Barnes is quoted in the statement as saying “Ron Johnson can’t hide from his anti-choice record –– from his co-sponsorship of a bill that made no exception for rape, incest, or life of the woman to his callous comments telling women who oppose abortion bans they ‘can move.’ Voters will hold him accountable for his efforts to rip away the right for women to make choices about their own bodies this fall.”
