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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority strikes down 176-year-old | |
abortion ban | |
By Associated Press, CNN | |
Updated: | |
11:06 AM EDT, Wed July 2, 2025 | |
Source: AP | |
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority struck down the | |
state’s 176-year-old abortion ban on Wednesday, ruling 4-3 that it | |
was superseded by a newer state law that criminalizes abortions only | |
after a fetus can survive outside the womb. | |
State lawmakers adopted the ban in 1849, making it a felony when anyone | |
other than the mother “intentionally destroys the life of an unborn | |
child.” | |
It was in effect until 1973, when the US Supreme Court’s landmark Roe | |
v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide nullified it. | |
Legislators never officially repealed the ban, however, and | |
conservatives argued that the US Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to | |
overturn Roe reactivated it. | |
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit that | |
year arguing that the ban was trumped by abortion restrictions | |
legislators enacted during the nearly half-century that Roe was in | |
effect. Kaul specifically cited a 1985 law that essentially permits | |
abortions until viability. Some babies can survive with medical help | |
after 21 weeks of gestation. | |
Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski, a Republican, | |
defended the ban in court, arguing that the 1849 ban could coexist with | |
the newer abortion restrictions, just as different penalties for the | |
same crime coexist. | |
Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled in 2023 that the 1849 | |
ban outlaws feticide – which she defined as the killing of a fetus | |
without the mother’s consent – but not consensual abortions. | |
Abortions have been available in the state since that ruling but the | |
state Supreme Court decision gives providers and patients more | |
certainty that abortions will remain legal in Wisconsin. | |
Urmanski asked the state Supreme Court to overturn Schlipper’s ruling | |
without waiting for a decision from a lower appellate court. It was | |
expected as soon as the justices took the case that they would overturn | |
the ban. | |
Liberals hold a 4-3 majority on the court and one of them, Janet | |
Protasiewicz, openly stated on the campaign trail that she supports | |
abortion rights. | |
Democratic-backed Susan Crawford defeated conservative Brad Schimel for | |
an open seat on the court in April, ensuring liberals will maintain | |
their 4-3 edge until at least 2028. Crawford has not been sworn in yet | |
and was not part of Wednesday’s ruling. She’ll play pivotal role, | |
though, in a separate Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin lawsuit | |
challenging the 1849 ban’s constitutionality. The high court decided | |
last year to take that case. It’s still pending. | |
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