A Republican district attorney in Wisconsin has filed an appeal against a court ruling that declared an 1849 state law does not ban abortions. This decision has paved the way for the resumption of abortions in the state. Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski appealed the ruling made by a Dane County judge, stating that there is no existing state ban on abortions. It was expected that the appeal would be filed, and the case is likely to be ultimately decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Urmanski has requested that the appeal be heard in the state’s Waukesha-based 2nd District Court of Appeals, where three out of the four judges are conservative. Appeals are heard by three-judge panels. If the ruling is appealed in this court, it would then go to the state Supreme Court, where there is currently a 4-3 majority in favor of liberals. The most recently elected liberal justice, Janet Protasiewicz, campaigned as a supporter of abortion rights.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion, led to Planned Parenthood ceasing abortions in Wisconsin. The organization cited the state’s 1849 law, which was widely interpreted as banning the procedure. In response, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit to overturn the ban, naming Urmanski and prosecutors in Dane and Milwaukee counties as defendants. These were the counties where Planned Parenthood clinics offering abortions were located.
Dane County Circuit Judge Dianne Schlipper ruled in July that the 1849 ban does not explicitly mention “abortion” and therefore only prohibits attacks on women with the intent to kill their unborn children. She issued her final order earlier this month, which has now allowed for the appeal to be filed. Following the July ruling, Planned Parenthood reopened clinics in Madison and Milwaukee that provide abortions. Another clinic in Sheboygan is set to reopen next week.
District attorneys in all three counties, including Urmanski, have stated that they will comply with the judge’s ruling while the case is ongoing. Polls conducted by Marquette University Law School since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade have shown that a majority of Wisconsin residents oppose the ruling and support legalized abortion.
