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“As governor, Tony will: Reverse Scott Walker’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood and thus ensure that thousands of Wisconsin residents are still able to access important health services like breast and cervical cancer screenings, physical exams, birth control and sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing”
In 2018, Gov. Tony Evers campaigned on a promise to restore funding for Planned Parenthood.
The Republican-controlled Legislature in 2019, however, quashed an expansion of the Affordable Care Act in the state's biennial budget, essentially nixing Evers' Healthy Women, Healthy Babies initiatives.
Among other measures, that proposal would have provided state funding to organizations such as Planned Parenthood. We rated the promise Stalled.
In his 2021-23 budget, the governor's "Healthy Women, Healthy Babies" initiative to improve women's health and birth outcomes is back in play.
Evers' communications director Britt Cudaback said the initiative includes increasing funding for the Women's Health Block Grant and removing restrictions imposed by Republicans that resulted in healthcare providers, such as Planned Parenthood, losing their Title X funding.
The Title X Family Planning Program is a federal grant program that provides comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services.
With the budget before the Legislature, the future of this provision remains uncertain at best.
For now, we move this promise to In the Works.
PolitiFact Wisconsin "Planned Parenthood abortion funding, business claim makes a point but goes too far," April 30, 2020
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "GOP vote on Affordable Care Act creates $1.4 billion gap between their plan and Gov. Tony Evers' budget," May 9, 2019
PolitiFact Wisconsin Evers-O-Meter, May 28, 2019
State of Wisconsin "Budget in Brief," February 2021
Email, Britt Cudaback, Evers' communications director, March 17, 2021
Gov. Tony Evers' campaign website included a pledge to expand funding for Planned Parenthood, reversing course from his Republican predecessor.
In Evers' first budget after winning the election, that promise is baked into the assumption that Wisconsin will accept additional Affordable Care Act funding.
"By accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid, we will bring Wisconsin's federal tax dollars back into our state and draw down $1.6 billion in new funds that we can reinvest in initiatives that will improve the health and well-being of all Wisconsinites," Evers spokeswoman Melissa Baldauff said in an email. "That includes the Healthy Women, Healthy Babies initiatives, which includes funding Planned Parenthood."
But the budget committee in the Republican-run Legislature has stripped out the ACA expansion, leaving a $1.4 billion gap between their plan and Evers' budget. That leaves additional spending like that for Planned Parenthood in doubt.
For now we rate Evers' promise Stalled.
Email from Melissa Baldauff, spokeswoman for Gov. Tony Evers, May 22, 2019
Tony Evers campaign website, Women's Health, accessed May 28, 2019
Gov. Tony Evers website, Gov. Evers Announces "Healthy Women, Healthy Babies," Initiatives in State Budget, Feb. 21, 2019
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, GOP vote on Affordable Care Act creates $1.4 billion gap between their plan and Gov. Tony Evers' budget, May 9, 2019