MADISON, Wis. — On Thursday, State Assembly candidate Yee Leng Xiong and local activists held a roundtable discussion on women’s reproductive freedom in Wisconsin. They were joined by community members who shared their experiences and perspectives on the importance of protecting women’s reproductive freedom.

Two years ago, the reproductive freedoms of women in Wisconsin and across the country were attacked by the extremist Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. While Republicans like Pat Snyder in Wisconsin’s Legislature support Wisconsin’s inhumane 1849 abortion ban, Democrats are fighting for a woman’s right to have freedom over her own body and reproductive care, including fertility care. Speakers emphasized the need to elect Democrats up and down the ballot and in every corner of Wisconsin to safeguard women’s autonomy here in the Badger State.

Watch a portion of the roundtable here, and see what the speakers had to say, in part, below:

State Assembly Candidate Yee Leng Xiong: “Here’s the bottom of the line: Wisconsin Democrats will fight to protect women’s reproductive freedom in Wisconsin, while Republicans won’t. It’s just as simple as that. My opponent, Pat Snyder, has spent his career voting against women’s reproductive freedom while Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature support inhumane laws such as the 1849 abortion ban. My opponent also took a step further, calling women who receive abortions “morally depraved.” He perfectly represents the extremism that’s taken over the Republican Party, and I want to bring some normalcy, some bipartisanship, back into this discussion.”

Democratic Chair of the 7th Congressional District Nancy Stencil: “There are women that are dying out there because they cannot get the services that they need. And as our future Vice President states, ‘It’s none of your damn business.’ This needs to be between a woman, her own faith, and her doctor to make those decisions. And I think it is so wrong that I grew up in a country where I had more reproductive rights than my daughter has today, and I truly fear for her reproductive health in every way. Should she decide to become pregnant at some point, if something were to go wrong, is she going to have to die […] because she cannot get proper care?”

Reproductive Freedom Advocate Katelyn Lang: “Here in Wisconsin, legislative Republicans have voted to block the repeal of Wisconsin’s archaic 1849 abortion ban. They opposed exceptions for rape and incest and voted for dangerous personhood laws that threaten access to IVF and birth control. […] And as we’ve seen in recent events, extremist Republicans want to take away rights and dictate women’s private health care decisions. In my years of advocacy, this is by far the most fear I have seen come from the community.”