After Roe v. Wade, Why Was Wisconsin's Abortion Ban Never Revoked?

Friday, August 11th, 2023 -- 11:01 AM

(By Anya van Wagtendonk and Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio) Last summer, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, the legality of abortion was sent back to states, immediately reviving Wisconsin's pre-Civil War abortion ban. 

According to Anya van Wagtendonk and Shawn Johnson with Wisconsin Public Radio, few if any states reverted to laws as old as Wisconsin’s. Over the nearly 50 years the ban was unenforceable, why had lawmakers never revoked it?

In some ways, the answer is simple: There was never the political will. And in the years immediately following the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the political lines when it came to abortion were blurred.

It would take nearly a decade for the major parties in Wisconsin, and the nation, to begin to adopt unified stances on abortion. And even as those stances coalesced, Democrats never amassed the legislative majorities they would need in Wisconsin to revoke the ban.

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