Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday his administration has filed to join the Planned Parenthood v. Urmanski lawsuit, arguing a near-complete abortion ban violates the Wisconsin Constitution.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) filed a petition in February to have abortion declared a right protected under the state constitution, echoing Attorney General Josh Kaul’s 2022 challenge to an 1849 law that banned nearly all abortions in the state after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The lawsuit began when Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court in February to overturn a ruling from July of last year that the 1849 law does not prohibit medical abortions, which allowed PPWI to resume services in September.
The court voted earlier this month to hear both the PPWI case and Urmanski’s appeal to the July 2023 ruling before the administration’s filing.
The filing continues Evers’ stated policy aim of restoring reproductive rights in Wisconsin in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
“I promised from the day the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe was leaked that I’d never stop fighting for Wisconsin women and their reproductive freedom, and I won’t stop,” Evers said in a press release Wednesday. “Wisconsinites have experienced what it means to live in a state that bans nearly all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest — they know because they lived it.”
Planned Parenthood of Illinois said they saw a 600% increase in the number of Wisconsin patients in the time between the Dobbs decision and the July ruling restoring abortion services in Wisconsin.
Nationwide, the Center for American Progress reported that more than one in three women between the ages of 15 and 44 live in states where abortion is banned after six weeks, even in cases of rape and incest.
“Every Wisconsinite should have access to the healthcare they need when they need it, and they should be able to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions without interference from politicians who know nothing about their faith, family or circumstances,” Evers said.
The court’s liberal majority makes it unlikely that Urmanksi’s appeal will be successful.
