Milwaukee, WI – On the evening of August 29, demonstrators from Reproductive Justice Action- Milwaukee (RJA-M) lined the street outside of Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Patti Logsdon’s home in Franklin, a suburb of Milwaukee. Banging pots and pans and holding picket signs reading “Stay out of my panties Patti” and “Don’t be a problematic Patti,” activists aimed to call attention to the unethical, anti-choice rhetoric Logsdon spewed during the county board supervisors meeting on July 28.

At that same meeting, six county board supervisors – including Logsdon – ultimately voted against putting an advisory referendum on Milwaukee County’s November ballot. This referendum aimed to ask for a public opinion on overturning Wisconsin State Statue 940.04, written in 1849, that makes abortions illegal. Logsdon stated that she believed, “the unborn need a voice too.”

Activists at the demonstration outside Logsdon’s home shouted chants outside of Logsdon’s house saying, “940.04, kick it out the door!” and, “Hey hey ho ho, the abortion ban has got to go. Hey hey ho ho, your backwards views have got to go. Hey hey ho ho, forced pregnancy has got to go!”

RJA-M’s chair, Lauren Forbush, gave a compelling speech stating, “Patti, I’d like to remind you that 80% of the population in the United States believes that Roe v. Wade should not have been overturned.” She went on to ask Logsdon to consider, “the people that die from complications due to being forced to carry a pregnancy their body cannot support,” and “the people who have to unroot their entire lives and overwork to the bone, just to afford a baby they were not prepared for.”

Forbush’s also demanded Logsdon to recognize, “the people who suffer with lifelong trauma from sexual assault and along with that the trauma from having to carry a baby that was forced upon them.” Forbush ended her speech by saying that Logson needs to understand the lasting effects “when you deny us the right to vote on our basic human rights.”

RJA-M plans to continue making their voices heard across the Milwaukee County area. Their goal is to demand that each county board supervisor who voted against the referendum reconsider their stance and draft a resolution. They will not stop showing up until Milwaukee is an abortion sanctuary. The organization asks the people in the different communities to sign their active petition demanding the county board of supervisors draft a resolution for decriminalizing abortion in Milwaukee County.

The Student for a Democratic Society at UW-Milwaukee and RJA-M will be co-hosting a campus speakout and march for reproductive rights on September 15 at Spaights Plaza.

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