Sen. Ron Johnson calls for 'education campaign' that includes seeing what abortions look like

 

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Sen. Ron Johnson suggested Monday voters should not only directly decide whether their state bans abortion, they should do so after seeing what an abortion looks like at different stages of a pregnancy.

Johnson spoke to reporters on the same day Vice President Kamala Harris visited La Crosse, with abortion access at the center of her message to swing state voters.

Recent polling has shown abortion is a top issue for Democratic voters in Wisconsin. It's a much lower priority for the state's Republican and independent voters.

While Johnson has supported efforts to pass a federal abortion ban at 20 weeks in the U.S. Senate, he's also said for years he'd prefer if voters got to determine their state's abortion laws via referendum.

Monday, Johnson said he supported an "education campaign" that included voters seeing abortions.

"Leading up to that referendum, we should have an education campaign that describes what life looks like inside the womb at different stages and what babies can experience when they're viable," Johnson said. "But also, as important as it would be, what does an abortion look like at four weeks and eight weeks and 12 weeks?"

Johnson praised an Assembly Republicans' passage of a bill earlier this year that would've banned abortion at 14 weeks instead of a current 20-week ban that's in place. In order to take effect, voters would have needed to approve the measure in a statewide referendum.

The Senate never voted on the bill, which was criticized by both pro-life and pro-choice groups. Even if the Senate passed it, Gov. Tony Evers has repeatedly said he would veto any bill that reduces access to abortion.

On the Democratic side, Harris repeated a message that government should not impose any restrictions on abortion access. Specifically, she said one can be deeply religious and still oppose abortion bans.

"More and more people will openly agree that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body," Harris said.

Johnson and other Republicans have said by not supporting any restrictions on abortion, Democrats are endorsing late-term abortions. However, such abortions are very rare.

Citing Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data from 2021, prior to the Dobbs ruling, the Kaiser Family Foundation found 96% of abortions happened at or before 15 weeks. 

Democrats have rallied around abortion as one of their top campaign issues. In recent weeks, the party has held events in Wisconsin featuring women from other states who struggled with pregnancy complications in states with strict abortion bans.

In a Marquette Law School poll released last week, abortion was the most important issue for Democratic voters - 24% of self-identified Wisconsin Democrats ranked abortion as their top issue; the next-highest issue for Democrats was the economy at 22%.

Forty-six percent of respondents said President Joe Biden would do a better job on abortion law than Republican candidate Donald Trump while 37% supported Trump on the issue.

However, Mr. Trump fared far better than President Biden on the issues of the economy (52% to 34%) and border security (52% to 28%). 

However, abortion was considerably less important to Republicans and independent voters. Among all voters, the economy was the most important issue for 33% while 21% said immigration and the border was their top priority. Abortion ranked third among all voters with 13% identifying it as their top issue.