Walker secretly declares Jan. 22 Anti-Choice Day, in a backalley where no one can see him

That's right.  It seems that Scott Walker has declared Jan. 22 Anti-Choice Day (behind the backs of the people of Wisconsin, in a backalley where no one can see him)

According to Right to Life Wisconsin, on Jan. 7, 2013 (inaugural day of the legislative term here in Wisconsin), Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed a proclamation declaring Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 (the anniversary of Roe v. Wade) "Protect Life Day:" 

The proclamation, which caught the attention of the indefatigable Rebecca Kemble when it showed up on the Wheeler Report on Friday, Jan. 17 in a Wisconsin Right to Life press release, seems to have first appeared here, on the conservative Catholic website of Doug Lawrence where it was posted by a "Robert K."  There is no mention of it that I can find, anywhere, between these dates.

The proclamation itself is an outrage: it opens with the bold-faced lie that Roe v. Wade made abortions "legal for any reason during the full nine months of pregnancy" and continues on to cite some spurious and uncited statistics about the numbers of "unborn children lost to Wisconsin families."

The entire proclamation is basically a statement indicating that neither the law of the land nor the rights, health and safety of Wisconsin women  are of any significance or concern to the governor.

You'd think official proclamations would make the"news." I don't see it. Do you?

This, of course, is offensive enough. But what is really disturbing is the fact that - if this is for real (and it's almost hard to believe it is) - Scott Walker seems to have tried to push this through as secretly as possible, presumably in the hopes of avoiding massive protests on the 22nd.  No where does such a January 7th proclamation show up on his website, in his news releases, in his list of official proclamations, or in the Wheeler Report archive. The Executive Orders page doesn't show anything more recent than 1/4/13. And his office, strategically, is not open to address the issue.

Is it possible the governor only released a proclamation - issued for and on behalf of the entire citizenry of the state - to special interests groups?  If so, is that even legal?

Does our governor truly have so little respect for his constituents and the dignity of his office that he would  allow a special interest group to make his proclamation public on the Friday of a holiday weekend, knowing no one from his or any other office could respond before the actual day of the proclamation - Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013?  

Was this really orchestrated to prevent the backlash and counterprotest that will surely erupt when the state and the nation discovers that this brazenly anti-choice proclamation has been issued in our name?

On the anniversary of a ruling which cemented the rights of women to take ownership of their reproductive health, our governor has issued a proclamation declaring his total disregard for our rights.  And he has, apparently, done so as he does all things: in the most weaselly way he can.

Many thanks to Rebecca Kemble for bringing this to our attention.  I hope it gets the attention of people who care about upholding the laws that protect our rights everywhere.

Update: Click here for more details in Rebecca Kemble's report. 

Update 2 1/22/13 9:25 am: The Governor's office just confirmed to me that he DID sign this proclamation and that it should have been make public on the Executive Orders page of his website. It is not there. The most recent posting is from 1/4. This proclamation was willfully withheld from the public and issued only to special interest groups, presumably to avoid controversy.

Call Scott Walker's office today at (608) 266-1212 to let him know what you think of his brazen declaration against women's rights to reproductive choice by declaring today, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade to be "Protect Life Day." 

According to the Governor's office, the proclamation was signed on Jan. 7, 2013 and should have been part of the public record here.  You can see that the most recent post is 1/4/2013.  Why was this proclamation withheld from the public? How did the special interest groups know about it?  Wisconsin citizens have been duped.