Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) hosted a panel discussion last week with the head of a group that is calling for "defunding the police" and for extending Medicaid programs to illegal immigrants.
Baldwin held a roundtable discussion about abortion on Saturday with Mini Timmaraju, the head of Reproductive Freedom for All, the influential abortion rights advocacy group previously known as NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Reproductive Freedom for All says on its website that it supports the "demands of the Movement for Black Lives, including defunding the police," and has called for "divest[ing] from law enforcement in black and brown communities." The group has also lobbied for extending Medicaid to illegal immigrants.
Baldwin’s appearance with Timmaraju comes after Democrats spent the past two years distancing themselves from the "Defund the Police" campaign. The movement—which emerged out of the 2020 anti-police protests and was blamed by Republicans for a nationwide crime spike—is opposed by most Americans, according to polls.
On social media, Reproductive Freedom for All has criticized "white women" for allegedly supporting the "patriarchy," and said that the United States has a "culture of white supremacy."
"White supremacy is a threat to public health," the group wrote in 2020. "We must work to dismantle the structures of oppression that prevent us from ever reaching true reproductive freedom."
The organization said it is also working on "dismantling the systems of oppression that are still so entrenched in society."
"We have to defund the police," wrote Reproductive Freedom for All. "Reproductive freedom won't be possible until we do."
Baldwin, who sponsored the "Women’s Health Protection Act" bill to legalize abortion nationwide, said at the roundtable on Saturday that she is fighting to give women "freedom to start a family and the freedom to decide, especially in a crisis, to seek the health care that they need," according to CBS 58 News.
The senator, who is facing a competitive reelection bid against Republican businessman Eric Hovde, has called for police reform but said she doesn’t support defunding law enforcement.
But Baldwin has also embraced Reproductive Freedom for All, which endorsed her last July.
In response to the group’s endorsement, Baldwin said she was "so proud" to have the organization "stand by my side as we work to restore abortion access here in Wisconsin and across the country."
The Wisconsin Senate race is one of the most hotly contested in the country and could determine party control of the upper chamber next year.
Baldwin isn’t the only Democratic candidate in a competitive race to praise Reproductive Freedom for All. New Jersey Democratic House candidate Sue Altman recently touted an endorsement from the group, the Washington Free Beacon reported this week.
In 2022, Reproductive Freedom for All raked in $4.5 million from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, which is now run by the Democratic financier’s son, Alex Soros.