Wisconsin GOP legislator in newly competitive district has long record of attempting to restrict reproductive rights

Wisconsin state Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) is seeking reelection this November to represent the state’s 8^th District, and he brings with him a long record of undermining abortion and reproductive rights.

Stroebel has been a state legislator since 2011, when he was elected to the state Assembly before moving over to the state Senate in 2015. During his 13 years in the government, Stroebel amassed an extreme anti-abortion record on reproductive freedom.

Most recently, Stroebel and other Senate Republicans voted to block the Right to Contraception Act. Republicans voted down a similar bill at the federal level, despite repeatedly claiming that there are no Republicans who oppose access to contraception.

Stroebel introduced Senate Bill 300 in 2023, which would have prohibited people employed by the state of Wisconsin from promoting, encouraging or providing abortion services, as well as receiving abortion training or making abortion referrals.

In 2021, Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed SB 503, another bill authored by Stroebel which would have defunded Planned Parenthood clinics. Stroebel released a statement at the time saying that the veto was a “win for abortion industry, not ‘reproductive healthcare.’”

Don’t be fooled: @GovEvers‘ veto of the bill I authored with @RepDittrich seeking to prohibit the subsidization of abortion clinics with Medicaid money (taxpayer dollars) is a win for the abortion industry, not for “reproductive healthcare.” https://t.co/R9HJQiBvAV pic.twitter.com/KoTKZg400Q

— Duey Stroebel (@SenStroebel) December 4, 2021

In 2020, Stroebel co-sponsored Assembly Joint Resolution 130, a failed constitutional amendment which would have altered the definition of person to include the unborn. A similar law was used by the Alabama Supreme Court to strike down the practice of in-vitro fertilization in the state. At the time, supporters of the amendment said they were attempting to make sure that abortion was automatically criminalized should the Supreme Court of the United States overturn Roe v. Wade.

When SCOTUS did overturn Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling in 2022, Stroebel released a statement saying, “It’s about time.”

“Now, my colleagues and I can legislate to protect life like we do on other matters of tremendous state importance,” Stroebel said in the statement. “I ran for office as a pro-life legislator and I will back that up with my votes and actions going forward.”

After redistricting, Stroebel is seeking Wisconsin’s newly drawn 8^th District, which is seen as one of the most competitive races in the state this year. He is running unopposed in the Aug. 13 primary, as is Democratic candidate Jodi Habush Sinykin.