GUEST COLUMN: Reproductive freedom can serve as a progressive guide for future success
"Confidence and clarity, no equivocating, no apologizing. That’s the winning formula." Guest column by State Senator Kelda Roys
The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. The Recombobulation Area is now part of Civic Media.

During the last five years, we have seen a transformation in the way people perceive abortion and reproductive freedom as a whole.
In Wisconsin, our recent political progress has been seismic but limited. Limited in the sense that we still have an 1849 ban on the books (though currently not enforced), and many restrictions in place that make abortion challenging to access. But seismic because of the complete shift in political fortunes — going from Roe v. Wade being the law of the land but abortion heavily restricted and difficult to obtain, to being completely unavailable post-Dobbs, to being on the cusp of a new era where everyone is able to get the healthcare they need without political obstacles. In less than two years, we could have a Democratic Senate, Assembly, and Governor — helping to rebuild our democracy and renew our state’s progressive tradition.
Electoral evidence of the shift
Emblematic of this seismic shift is our state Supreme Court, which now reflects the values of the many instead of the special interests of the few. The long-standing right-wing majority was broken two years ago with the election of now-Justice Janet Protasiewicz, largely as a result of anger over Dobbs and the banning of abortion. Control of the court – and the future of abortion rights and the 1849 ban — again hinges on the upcoming April 1 election. If the result of that election does not lead to the court reverting to a conservative majority, potentially re-gerrymandering the state legislature, in 2026, Democrats are likely to flip at least one — and possibly both — chambers to Democratic control.
Even as we imagine and work towards a future Democratic trifecta, we see the dark reality of another Trump administration, which will test our resolve and resilience daily. To get through this, we must work together to minimize harm, preserve our freedom when we can, and use our collective imagination to foster hope. State Senate Democrats won all five of our competitive races in the 2024 election because our candidates focused both on lowering costs for families (child care, housing, groceries, healthcare) and on championing reproductive freedom. From Richland County to Brown County, and La Crosse, Ozaukee, and Outagamie, we prioritized freedom. Reproductive health care decisions should never be made by right-wing politicians seeking to criminalize our options and control our futures.
In conversations, we led with our values (freedom and autonomy), emphasized personal stories (how abortion bans hurt real people), and made the stakes clear (if Republicans win, women will continue to be harmed and die). Confidence and clarity, no equivocating, no apologizing. That’s the winning formula.
A shift in comfort
As recently as a few years ago, many would have been uncomfortable voicing strong pro-abortion rights sentiments — some politicians even worried about saying the word “abortion.” But since Dobbs, Senate Democrats in Wisconsin have seen how the polling has supported abortion as a winning issue, and we have felt it over thousands of conversations at voters’ doors across the state. For decades, the small but noisy group of anti-choice reactionaries have worked hard to convince us that abortion is controversial, and their aggressive tactics often put reproductive freedom advocates on the defensive. But now we know that abortion is NOT controversial — support for abortion rights is a super-majoritarian position, and even a majority of Republican voters support abortion rights. Abortion is a winning issue, when we use this winning formula.
This approach has helped Democrats win unlikely races across the country on abortion rights, even in the reddest parts of the country. People ultimately want to be free to make their own decisions — they don’t want politicians making decisions for them. When we make it clear that your freedom is at stake, the other questions about who or why or when politicians should get to force themselves into your most intimate decisions fall by the wayside. Indeed, polling shows the highest support for abortion rights when the question is binary and abortion access is unrestricted: should you or politicians decide? Trying to hedge and placate anti-abortion zealots by introducing restrictions or limitations actually weakens our position and undermines our support.
Commanding our priorities
We can apply this insight to so many issues where the majority of Americans are with us — on gun safety, healthcare access, support for childcare, public school funding, and worker’s rights, just to name a few. But we need to articulate them clearly and consistently to break through the informational chaos of modern life. It takes courage and confidence to do this — to speak out unapologetically for our values in a political and media environment that is highly polarized and often prioritizes false equivalence over facts.
When the public is with us, we must press our advantage and deliver on the issues that matter most to people: addressing the high cost of healthcare, housing, childcare, groceries, and prescription drugs, and protecting people’s rights. And we must continue building coalitions and persuading people to join us on the issues where we don’t have as much support yet by always leading with our values, emphasizing personal stories, and making the stakes clear.
Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) is a state senator representing Madison and surrounding communities in Dane County. She is an attorney, small business owner, reproductive rights expert, and parent, who is relentlessly focused on making sure every child in Wisconsin has the opportunity to succeed. Follow her on social media with a general handle of SenKeldaRoys and sign up for the Reproductive Freedom Update, which comes out monthly or as updates arise.
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Help me understand (with all due respect)…If abortion is a winning issue, then why did Dr. Kristin Lyerly who (in my view) was unfairly tagged as “that abortion doctor”, lost to MAGA Tony Wied in CD 8? She outperformed him in the debate, he got away with the lie that we (Dems) “kill babies up until the time of birth” and his only accomplishment was/is owning a successful chain of gas stations.
I don’t get it.