Scott Walker Kills Women's Cancer Screening Program

By Melissa Baldauff

Nothing is more important to me, or any mother, than the health and well-being of my children. And I know that part of taking care of my children includes taking care of myself with breast and cervical cancer screenings.

That’s why Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch’s latest attack on Wisconsin women, cutting funding for the Wisconsin Well Woman Program, has me so upset. They were able to give away billions in tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires like the Koch Brothers, but decided that Wisconsin just can’t afford to take care of our women and children.

Scott Walker has proven time-and-again that he won’t be honest with the people of Wisconsin, so I’m counting on you to help us spread the word about this devastating blow to women’s healthcare.

Will you join me in writing a letter to the editor of your local paper on how Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch's extreme policies are endangering the lives of more than 19,000 Wisconsin women? 

http://www.WisDems.org/Speak-Out/Walkers-War-On-Women

Below is a copy of a letter I’ve submitted to my local paper’s opinion page that you can use as an example. On our website you will also find our "Top 10 Reasons Women Should Recall Scott Walker" fact sheet that you can use to help write your letter to your local paper. 

Please take a moment to join me in writing a letter to the editor to help educate your friends and neighbors about Scott Walker’s dangerous priorities:

http://www.WisDems.org/Speak-Out/Walkers-War-On-Women

Scott Walker and his Republican Party have waged an unrelenting war on Wisconsin women. We simply cannot afford to have him as governor any longer.

Below is a copy of the letter that I submitted today:

Wisconsin Women Must Recall Scott Walker

By Melissa Baldauff

I’m fortunate enough to have affordable health insurance through my employer, but thousands of Wisconsin women don’t have this option, and instead rely on Wisconsin’s Well-Woman Program for preventive, and potentially life-saving, health treatments.

In their radical pursuit to payoff their friends in right-wing special interest groups, Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefisch have defunded Planned Parenthood, eliminating funding for women’s health programs that provide cervical cancer screenings, breast exams, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. In Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, and Outagamie counties this means there are no longer any Well-Woman providers, and women without health insurance in central Wisconsin will be forced to forego routine care if they lack the ability to pay.

Scott Walker was able to find billions of dollars to give away to wealthy special interests by slashing more than $500 million from healthcare, gutting collective bargaining rights for public workers, cutting $2.6 billion from education and raising taxes on seniors and working families. These dangerous priorities have a devastating effect on all Wisconsinites, but especially women, who have a one-in-eight chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and make just 71 cents to a man’s dollar. Even more frightening, women of child-bearing age without adequate access to healthcare face higher risks during pregnancy and an increased chance of poor birth outcome.

These latest dangerous policies that restrict access to preventive health treatments and strip women of our rights prove, again, that Scott Walker does not care about women and children.