A key Republican lawmaker in the Wisconsin state legislature indicated over the weekend that his party would seek to restrict abortion access if the state Supreme Court upholds a lower court’s opinion blocking an 1849 statute.
The statute in question, which forbids abortion in all circumstances except to save a pregnant person’s life, had been blocked from being enforced since 1973, when abortion rights were recognized and protected by the federal Supreme Court. But in 2022, when the court upended those protections, several states reverted to their old statutes that were still on the books — including Wisconsin.
In late 2023, however, a state circuit court found that the 1849 statute was in violation of constitutional protections and blocked its enforcement, reverting back to the standard that existed before 2022 that allowed abortions in the state up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. The state Supreme Court heard a challenge to that ruling in November, and is expected to rule on the issue sometime in the next few months.
With the court consisting of a 4-3 liberal bloc majority, it’s likely that the lower court’s injunction will be upheld. If that happens, Republicans will consider passing stronger abortion restrictions, state Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in an interview on Sunday.
“It could be a 14 week [ban] if they [the state Supreme Court] make abortion legal full term or if they keep it at 20 weeks, we could try to do 14 weeks,” LeMahieu said. “At that point, we’ll try to build consensus and see where our caucus is at.”
Democratic senators decried LeMahieu’s proposal, pointing out that most Wisconsinites are interested in preserving and protecting abortion rights, not eroding them further.
“The insinuation that the legislature should take up a new abortion ban should the 1849 law be struck down is remarkably out of touch with the priorities and needs of the people and families across our state,” Democratic state Sens. Jodi Habush Sinykin, Sarah Keyeski and Jamie Wall said in a joint statement.
Indeed, polling in the state shows that most residents are opposed to further restrictions. A Marquette Law School poll published in October, for example, found that 63 percent of voters in Wisconsin want abortion to be legal in all or most cases. Only 31 percent wanted the procedure to be restricted in most cases, while just 6 percent said it should be illegal in all cases — like the 1849 statute would enforce.
Abortion rights will likely become a focal point in an upcoming statewide election. In April, Wisconsin residents will vote in a state Supreme Court race to replace outgoing justice Ann Walsh Bradley, one of the liberal bloc members. Liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford and conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel have emerged as the two top contenders for that race. A Schimel victory would lead to the court becoming a 4-3 conservative bloc majority, while a Crawford win would keep the current liberal majority in place.
The election will likely be contentious, given Wisconsin’s “purple state” status. In the 2024 presidential race, Wisconsin was decided by just 29,397 votes (out of more than 3.2 million cast). That being said, the last state Supreme Court race was decided by 11 percentage points, with a liberal newcomer candidate handily defeating a former justice of the court in 2023.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.