The Wisconsin attorney general, a Democrat, sued in state court to try to overturn that law. A judge in July issued an initial ruling that concluded the 1849 law did not ban anyone from seeking abortions but rather barred someone from battering a pregnant woman and killing her unborn child. The judge is expected to issue a final ruling in the case soon, but Planned Parenthood announced Thursday it was not waiting for that ruling and instead would resume offering services on Monday at clinics in Milwaukee and Madison.
“With patients and community as our central priority and driving force, we are eager to resume abortion services and provide this essential care to people in our State,” Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said in a statement.
The case before the Dane County judge is expected to continue and other lawsuits could be filed in response to Planned Parenthood’s resumption of abortion services.
Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, criticized Planned Parenthood for not waiting for the final ruling.
“We’re hugely disappointed for the moms and the pre-born babies here in the state,” Weininger said.
Wisconsin borders Illinois, which has become a major destination state for women traveling from states with abortion bans.
More than 15 states have banned all or most abortions as the abortion landscape has fundamentally shifted since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established a right to abortion. Abortion rights groups have turned to state courts as one of the quickest and only ways to attempt to restore access in a post-Roe America in some states — and they’ve had mixed results.
The development in Wisconsin comes six weeks after liberals took a 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court. The newest liberal member of the court, Janet Protasiewicz, championed abortion rights when she ran for the court this spring, and her critics have questioned whether she could participate in cases on abortion. If she were to step aside in any case, the court would be ideologically divided, with three liberals and three conservatives.
Republicans who control the legislature have threatened to impeach Protasiewicz if she does not step aside in separate cases over gerrymandering. Protasiewicz has not said if she will participate in those cases, and it’s unclear if Republicans will carry through with their warnings on impeachment.
Rachel Roubein contributed to this report from Washington.
