Anti-abortion groups called on prosecutors to bring charges against abortion providers in Wisconsin’s two largest counties after abortion services resumed in the state on Sept. 18.
Wisconsin Right to Life, Wisconsin Family Action and Pro-Life Wisconsin held a news conference at the Capitol on Sept. 26 to call for Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm to prosecute abortion service providers in the two counties.
“Now is not the time to be selective in which laws we enforce and which laws we don’t,”said Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life. “If district attorneys Ozanne and Chisholm do their job and ensure prosecution of abortionists in their counties is enforced, we will save lives.”
Although Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban is still on the books, Ozanne and Chisholm both announced last year that they would permit abortions in their counties, according to the Associated Press.
And in July of 2023, Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled consensual abortions legal, which Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin interpreted as a green light to resume abortion services in the state for the time being.
Schlipper’s verdict did not prevent the ban from being enforced, and it is likely the case will end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which currently has a liberal-leaning majority.
“Planned Parenthood’s friends in power are refusing to enforce Wisconsin’s statutory abortion ban and the district attorneys [have] the power to stop it,” Dan Mill, the state director of Pro-life Wisconsin, said. “They have no respect for the law and are completely apathetic to, if not supportive of, the killing of preborn children in their prospective counties.”
Members of these anti-abortion groups want those performing abortions to be held accountable as well for “aiding and abetting” the service and specified that the state’s abortion ban “excludes any culpability for the mother.”
Julaine Appling, the president of Wisconsin Family Action, called Schlipper’s ruling “really creative legal work.”
“Planned Parenthood is relying on this creative legal reasoning that [Schlipper] gave us and has decided to take the law into their own hands because there has been nothing definitive handed down from a court,” Appling said at the news conference.
Weininger shared that the coalition has talked to some government officials about different ways to motivate district attorneys to enforce this law. He did not share the names of any government officials they have been in contact with.
Further discussions about the 1849 abortion ban and its enforcement will continue at the state level, Weininger said.
Anna Kleiber is the state news editor for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the arts editor. Anna has written in-depth on elections, legislative maps and campus news. She has interned with WisPolitics and Madison Magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @annakleiber03.
