Not many people seem to have noticed yet, but buried among the new measures signed into law last week as part of Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget is a trio of family planning initiatives that are expected to expand access to birth control and contraceptive education in Wisconsin.
Advocates who had fought for previous versions of the controversial measures over the past years, only to see them get beat back repeatedly by the Republican-controlled Legislature, are thrilled at the relative ease with which the measures passed this year — thanks to the new Democratic majority.