Wisconsin Supreme Court Agrees to Accept Two High Profile Abortion Lawsuits

Friday, July 5th, 2024 -- 10:01 AM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) The Wisconsin Supreme Court has accepted two high profile abortion lawsuits, one asserting the state constitution protects a woman’s right to abortion and another challenging a pre-Civil War law that was for years thought to ban the procedure.

According to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, the lawsuits were filed by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul and deal with separate legal questions, both of which arose after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections on June 24, 2022.

Abortion providers in Wisconsin ceased all abortion services for more than a year after the U.S. Supreme court ruling, pointing to the state law initially passed in 1849. That changed last year when a Dane County circuit court judge ruled the law does not prohibit consensual medical abortions.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin resumed abortion services at clinics in Milwaukee and Madison, and later resumed abortion services in Sheboygan County. Republican Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski vowed to appeal the case to the state Supreme Court, which the court’s liberal majority accepted Tuesday.

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