State Assembly Candidate Christy Welch Wants to Restore Abortion Rights While Opponent Ben Franklin Avoids Taking A Position

Christy Welch is the Democratic candidate for Wisconsin State Assembly District 88. In a press release announcing her campaign, Welch said the key issues on her platform include “restoring reproductive rights.” 

Welch lists fully restoring reproductive freedoms among her top priorities on her campaign website, saying “[w]e shouldn’t have our health, freedom or lives threatened by a restrictive 19th century abortion law.”Welch goes on to say, “[w]e can’t live in a state where the government dictates what a woman can and can’t do with her own body.”

Welch has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin. 

Welch says that “our community deserves leadership that prioritizes public well-being over personal gain, and I am committed to representing the needs of our citizens.”

Benjamin Franklin won the Republican primary for Assembly District 88 on August 13, and will face Welch in the general election in November.

Franklin’s campaign website does not offer any information on his stance on abortion, and he declined to fill out a questionnaire about his position on reproductive freedom. However, Franklin stated that he is pro-life during an interview in September. He said he believes in exceptions for “rape, incest, and life of the mother,” but avoided taking a position on specific gestational limits, saying that issue should be decided by the voters.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, the debate over abortion rights became particularly heated in Wisconsin, where an 1849 abortion ban came back into effect. The majority of Republican legislators voted in 2023 to uphold the law, which banned abortion even in cases of rape and incest. A lower court judge has since ruled that abortion providers could restart services in Wisconsin, but the issue of abortion rights is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court and likely to remain a top issue for Wisconsin voters for the foreseeable future.

Updated October 10, 2024.