Wisconsin Republican blasts pro-lifer’s suggestion 'workforce gap driven by low birth rates'

07 June 2023

Wisconsin state legislators have wrestled over the issue of abortion for months.

In a recent Politico report, David Siders "cites abortion as a major reason why Wisconsin has 'shifted leftward,' noting "liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz" — who backs abortion rights — "beat conservative former State Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly by a whopping 11 percentage points."

Still, anti-abortion group Pro-Life Wisconsin's Director of Legislation Matt Sande, during a hearing Wednesday, suggested contraception contributes to the state's workforce gap.

Sande, during his testimony, said, "On October 22, 2021, the Wisconsin State Journal ran a story on Wisconsin's unemployment rate. In the story, Department of Workforce Development officials said Wisconsin employers continue to struggle to find jobs, to fill jobs, due to a workforce gap driven by low birth rates."

The pro-lifer added, "Quote the labor force may decline by 2035 rather than just be flat said Scott Hodick, section chief of DWD's Office of Economic Advisors. Quote this is essentially the retirement of the baby boomer generation. As that generation ages and in turn ages out of the labor force, it becomes more and more difficult to replace those job openings, end quote."

Sande emphasized, "At a time when state government should be developing and promoting policies that incentivize natural population growth — which I know is a bipartisan concern — why would the bill authors attempt to do the opposite by pushing wide and easy access to contraceptives? Just something to think about."

State Rep. Lisa Subeck (R) replied to Sande, saying, "First off, I find it incredibly offensive that you think that my decisions or anybody else's decisions on whether or not to plan to engage in family planning should be determined based on whether or not we have a worker shortage. So I just find that part of your testimony incredibly offensive as a woman, and quite frankly as a human being."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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