Avoid Turning the Clock Back

This letter to the editor, by Pam Fricke, appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on August 27, 2026.

In the movie Groundhog Day, the character Phil Connors steps into the same icy cold puddle every morning, repeating the same bad day over and over again. For women in the U.S. we seem to be fighting the same battle for reproductive rights over and over again.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that the U.S. Constitution didn’t confer a right to abortion, overturning Roe v. Wade, the decision ended nearly 50 years of protection for abortion rights and allowed states to set their own laws.

That meant that Wisconsin’s pre-Civil War law banning abortion with no exceptions became active again. Wisconsin women were forced to travel to other states to receive the care they needed.

Then in 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted in a 4-3 ruling that the historic ban was unenforceable. Current law allows abortion up to 20 weeks.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany could change that. He has a decade-long voting record in the state Legislature and Congress of supporting more restrictive anti-abortion measures, including no exceptions for rape or incest. Though his campaign scrubbed his views on abortion from his website and he says he’ll respect the current law if elected, can we trust him?

But abortion isn’t the only issue where we could lose. Make no mistake: Tiffany’s interest in becoming governor is the reason he’s hiding his history of extremist right-wing positions and votes that have hurt and don’t help Wisconsinites. He’ll continue to support AI companies instead of protecting our natural resources, give billionaires tax breaks funded by budget cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and be the president’s loyal lapdog.

Tiffany’s record isn’t going to change. . . just like that icy cold puddle in Groundhog Day. But we have the opportunity in November to avoid making the same mistake.