Politics
State Rep. Billings talks GOP outrage over Gov. Evers’ “inseminated person” terminology
Here’s a clip from Wisconsin state Rep. Jill Billings on WIZM’s La Crosse Talk on Tuesday discussing what she calls manufactured Republican outrage over the term “inseminated person.”
In his budget proposal, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers changed terminology from “the husband of the mother” to “the spouse of the inseminated person,” and Billings describes why that had to happen.
La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-8 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk wherever you get your podcasts.
Billings, a La Crosse Democrat, described how the language could be applied in real life.
“Women can get married” to each other and be expecting a baby by way of artificial insemination, Billings said. “So, we could have a woman married to a woman, and so it defines that there’s one woman that’s the inseminated person, and then the other woman is the spouse.”
The 13-year state rep. was also disappointed people weren’t focusing on any of the substance of Evers’ budget.
“It’s just ridiculous because there are a lot of good things in the budget that help women, help children,” Billings said. “Some that I asked for and the governor included but we’re talking about this stupid phrase, “inseminated person” and not talking about all the good things that are in the budget.”
Billings also laughed at Republicans claiming Evers is trying to get rid of the word “mother.”
“In the same budget, the word ‘inseminated person’ is used two times, and the word ‘mother’ is used 38 times,” Billings pointed out.
She calls it a case of “manufactured outrage,” being used to influence how Wisconsin residents vote in the upcoming state Supreme Court election and Evers reelection, if he chooses to run.
Billings noted that she has seen the complaints about the budget language turn up in campaign ads for the state Supreme Court race, which is expected to determine political control for a couple of sessions.
Yvonne
February 25, 2025 at 10:24 pm
Billings and Evers are both ignorant of science. Mother refers to a woman who gives birth or adopts a baby…period. These two twits need to go back to high school, they apparently need biology lessons. Liberal logic makes no sense.
Adam
February 26, 2025 at 10:33 am
Conservatives should stop clutching their pearls. This is NOT an issue, until YOU make it one. Jill Billings explains it clearly and completely, yet, the morons who’ve posted before me want to throw up their hands in outrage because of the ,”inclusion” of non offensive language for a minority group. Get a life Conservative pearl clutches, inclusion is a good thing, no matter what your orange cult leader says about it.
walden
February 26, 2025 at 9:06 pm
What is on display is Hell’s deep hatred of motherhood, families, and goodness.
Each and every child has a mother and each and every mother is a women. No pandering politician can change that.
Kevin
February 26, 2025 at 7:11 am
Billings and Evers are failing to understand that the state of being pregnant is not a roulette wheel of pronouns and made-up biology.
Billings is playing an inception and normalization game. Trying to claim that this is a nonsense argument. It is state endorsement of bad science, bad medicine, bad education, and pandering politics. If she can sneak this crap in past the goalie once, maybe even twice, then the fight is over. It will go in more and more and more.
The answer is no… quit with the crap science, with the crap word play, with the exclusionary practices of claiming inclusion. This is why the democrats lost.
Roy
February 26, 2025 at 8:46 am
Tony Evers is a former science teacher at Tomah High School. What would you expect?
It’s been said that when he proposed marriage, he said to his betrothed
“How about we get a license and exchange fluids?”
Adam
February 26, 2025 at 10:36 am
Conservatives need to stop the charade of pearl, clutching about this.Non issue. Generate all the disdain and unhappiness you want about issues that are real, this one is not. Representative Jill Billings made it very clear why the use of the language in this specific instance, twice using intimidated person and 38 times using the word mother. So the idea that the governor or state representatives are trying to get rid of the word mother is preposterous. You’re feigned.
Offence is an effort to comply with your orange.Faced cult leader and his efforts to remove inclusion, diversity and equity, which are all good things. I’d suggest conservatives in wisconsin, get a life
John
February 28, 2025 at 7:59 am
So then you don’t have an issue with Gulf of America?
Adam
February 26, 2025 at 10:43 am
I find it odd that my comments have been unposted twice and conservatives voices are the only comments present for this article. Definitely biased journalism.
Sam
February 26, 2025 at 3:36 pm
Inseminated Person sounds like something someone very socially awkward came up with. Even plants have mothers and fathers. It depends on the species. Mothers aren’t inseminated all the time. It’s tacky.
walden
February 26, 2025 at 11:40 am
The “inseminated women” IS the mother, you dopes. Billings either drew the short straw or she is the only one dopey enough to try to defend Evers on this matter.
Nice try passing this off as issue manufactured by the GOP. Actually, anyone with common sense can see through this destructive word-play: reducing motherhood to terms more commonly applied to barnyard animals will certainly NOT help build stronger families.
HOWARD
February 26, 2025 at 1:23 pm
OMG they will never get it. It’s because of this crap we have a crazy person in the Whitehouse who is screwing the vast majority of the people. The far right is nuts as is the far left. Even though we have a Putin loving draft dodging nut tanking our economy right now a lot of people are sucking it up because he’s not as deranged as the left. God help us all.
R Head
February 26, 2025 at 12:26 pm
Evers was never that bright! He wants to be woke that done.he should call men sperm injectors and women spem resistants.
Dylan
February 26, 2025 at 1:27 pm
This is the crap that gets the democrats laughed at lol!
Kevin
February 27, 2025 at 8:43 am
The definition of a pregnancy is not political, it is biological. Changing the words to inseminated person is political. That is pandering science, stupid education, and distraction.
If I have an excellent brownie recipe, using all the best ingredients and put a teaspoon of wet mushy dog sh_t in it, the brownies are now full of sh_t. The FDA would shut me down for trying to sell sh_tty brownies, and also fine me for endangering lives and health code violations, regardless if I try to pass that sh_t off as predigested organic fiber or some other word play to make sh_t sound like shinola!
Evers and Billings are playing that game….nothing at all to do with ‘inclusivity.