Planned Parenthood resumes abortions in Wisconsin

A judge ruled last month that a 144-year-old state law doesn’t apply to medical abortions

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Planned Parenthood resumed abortion services in Wisconsin on Monday, more than a year after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Following the June 2022 decision, providers across the state ceased offering abortions, fearing enforcement of an 1849 state law that appears to prohibit the procedure but was previously nullified by the 1973 Roe decision. Last month, a judge ruled that the 144-year-old law does not apply to medical abortions.

Following the ruling, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin resumed abortion services at clinics in Madison and Milwaukee on Monday. The organization did not say how many abortions it expected to perform, but it did say that appointments at its Milwaukee clinic on Monday were completely booked within 24 hours of the announcement that services would resume.

Because abortion care has been unavailable in Wisconsin for the past 15 months, many patients have sought help in neighboring Illinois, where abortions have remained widely available. According to Planned Parenthood of Illinois, patients from Wisconsin have increased sevenfold since the Supreme Court overturned Roe.

According to board president Cynthia Lin, the Women’s Medical Fund of Wisconsin, which provides financial assistance for abortion procedures and related costs, 477 Wisconsin patients obtained abortions outside the state in the first six months of 2023. She stated that the majority of her appointments were in Minnesota or Illinois.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, even within the return of legal abortion care in Wisconsin,” Lin said on Monday, referring to the long distances many patients must travel to reach clinics in Madison or Milwaukee. Lin also cited state laws that require people seeking abortions in Wisconsin to first schedule an ultrasound and a counseling appointment before waiting 24 hours for the procedure.

The lawsuit against Wisconsin’s 1849 law was filed by the state’s Democratic attorney general and is expected to be heard by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which shifted to liberal control last month.

Democrats praised the resumption of abortion services, including Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers. Meanwhile, anti-abortion rights groups in the state slammed the move and promised to keep fighting in court to make the procedure illegal.