Did Wisconsin Republicans target birth control and refuse to vote on bill to codify contraception?

Reproductive rights — including access to contraception — have emerged as a flashpoint in the 2024 presidential race. 

In May, former President Donald Trump said he was "looking at" restrictions on contraception, but quickly walked back his comments and said he would never support such a policy. 

On June 5, Democrats forced a vote in the U.S. Senate on the Right to Contraception Act, which would codify a right to birth control. That vote failed, even with two Republicans joining Democrats in support. 

Democrats pursued the bill after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In that ruling, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas indicated he favored the court revisiting Griswold v. Connecticut, the decision establishing the right to birth control.

So, like abortion, contraception access is emerging as a state-level issue. That point was made by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to state Legislatures.

"In 2024 alone, GOP-controlled legislatures across the country have targeted birth control," a June 5 news release read. "In Wisconsin, Republicans refused to schedule a vote on a bill that would have codified a right to birth control."

That claim caught PolitiFact Wisconsin’s attention, especially as Democrats push to regain a majority under Wisconsin’s new legislative maps and could highlight access to contraception during their campaigns. 

Let’s take a look at where Wisconsin’s right-to-contraception bill ended up this year, and whether Republicans in the state are targeting birth control. 

Bill never received hearings in committees, Republicans rejected floor vote attempt 

In response to a PolitiFact Wisconsin inquiry, DLCC’s press secretary Sam Paisley pointed to Senate Republicans’ control of the Legislature and their votes against bringing the bill to the floor.

"Democrats pushed to ‘withdraw’ it from committee in order to get a floor vote as soon as possible, as opposed to waiting for the lengthy process through committee," Paisley said.

Let’s explain that process a little bit further.

That bill was introduced last July. It would have "(established) that a person has a statutory right to obtain contraceptives" and that health care providers have a right to provide it and share information about it. 

In short, it would have outlined the right to contraception in Wisconsin’s state law, in case the U.S. Supreme Court precedent establishing that federal right was overturned. 

That bill was assigned to committees in the Assembly and Senate, but the Republican chairs of both committees never held a public hearing for it. That’s typical for most bills introduced by Democrats. 

In February, Senate Democrats made a last-ditch attempt to take the bill out of committee and bring it to the floor for a vote. Their motion failed, with all Republicans rejecting the effort to vote on the bill. 

So, the second half of DLCC’s statement is correct. Republicans never held votes — either on the floor or in committees — much less public hearings for the bill. 

Republicans introduced bill allowing pharmacists to prescribe some forms of birth control

But let’s go back to the first part of the statement: that GOP-controlled Legislatures like Wisconsin’s have "targeted birth control." Wisconsin is listed as an example by DLCC. 

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stated on May 4, 2017 in a news release

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Unlike Oklahoma, another example mentioned by DLCC, Republicans in Wisconsin didn’t introduce any bills last session that would have added new restrictions on contraception. 

In fact, a Republican-authored bill supported by many Republicans and Democrats would have made accessing some forms of birth control more convenient. 

The bill would have allowed pharmacists to prescribe birth control pills and patches, rather than only physicians or advanced practice nurses. It passed the Assembly, but not the Senate. 

Some Republicans voted against that bill in the Assembly, but all Democrats voted for it. Many medical groups registered in favor of it.

So while Republicans did not advance a bill that would have codified a right to contraception, many of them did support a bill that would have actually expanded the ways people can get a birth control prescription.

Our ruling 

The DLCC claimed Republican legislatures "have targeted birth control" and in Wisconsin "refused to schedule a vote on a bill that would have codified a right to birth control."

The group is right about Republicans not holding a vote on a particular Democratic bill. But the claim falls short about the GOP specifically targeting birth control. 

Indeed, Republicans also introduced a bill — supported by Democrats and medical groups — that would have expanded how people can get a birth control prescription. 

Because the second part of their claim is correct, but the first part is off the mark, we rate their claim Half True.