State's Largest Anti-Abortion Groups File Complaint to State Licensing Agency Against Doctors Providing Abortions

Friday, October 6th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) After being rebuffed by local law enforcement, an official with one of Wisconsin's largest anti-abortion groups has filed complaints with the state's licensing agency against doctors who provide abortions in the weeks after Planned Parenthood resumed those services.

According to Jessie Opoien with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the move comes as advocates on both sides disagree over whether abortion is currently legal in Wisconsin, following a July court order signaling a Dane County judge believes an 1849 law that has been interpreted as a near-total ban on abortion does not, in fact, ban consensual abortions.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin took the order as a signal of how the judge will rule, and began scheduling appointments for its Madison and Milwaukee clinics on Sept. 14.

Prior to that, abortion had been unavailable in Wisconsin for more than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade, which had legalized abortions in the U.S. for 50 years before it was struck down.

Dr. Kristin Lyerly, a Green Bay OB-GYN and former Democratic state Assembly candidate, shared with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a Sept. 28 complaint filed against her with the state Department of Safety and Professional Services.

Lyerly, who had previously provided abortions in Wisconsin, started practicing in Minnesota after the Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

Although she told the Journal Sentinel she hasn't yet started practicing in Wisconsin again, Lyerly, who has been floated as a potential challenger to U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, indicated in a Washington Post report that she would be willing to do so "immediately" following Planned Parenthood's announcement last month.

Reached by phone, Pro-Life Wisconsin state director Dan Miller told the Journal Sentinel he filed complaints against Lyerly, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and the organization's medical director, Dr. Kathy King.

He said he did so after calling the Dane and Milwaukee County sheriff's offices and the Madison and Milwaukee police departments, "to no avail."

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