The Wisconsin Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will hear arguments in two high-profile abortion cases, one challenging a 175-year-old law that previously banned abortion in the state and another arguing that abortion rights are protected under the Wisconsin Constitution.
In February, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) filed a petition asking the court to declare abortion access a right protected by the state constitution. The petition followed Attorney General Josh Kaul’s 2022 challenge to an 1849 law that banned nearly all abortions in the state with no exception for rape or incest and went into effect after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled in July of last year the 1849 law does not prohibit consensual medical abortions, allowing PPWI to resume abortion services in the state the following month. In February, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski asked the court to overturn the ruling and to take on the case without waiting for a decision from the lower state appeals court.
The court voted 4-3 along ideological lines to take up PPWI’s case and unanimously to take up Urmanski’s appeal.
This announcement comes just a week after Wisconsin Watch leaked a draft order obtained that said the court would hear the petition to seek recognition of a constitutional right to abortion. Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Annette Ziegler asked law enforcement to investigate the leaked draft order.
With the court’s new liberal majority, it is unlikely the 1849 law will be upheld.
Conservative-leaning Justice Brian Hagedorn accused the liberal majority of playing politics in his dissenting opinion following the decision to take up PPWI’s case.
“The signal to a watching public is that, when certain policy issues touch the right nerve, this court will follow the party line, not the law,” Hagedorn wrote.
Democratic lawmakers applauded the court’s decision to take up PPWI’s case and called on the court to protect abortion rights.
“Wisconsin’s Constitution has sweeping language guaranteeing liberty and equality, and a long and robust history of case law supports the fact that these central clauses ensure bodily autonomy, privacy and equality for people who need abortion care,” Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, said in a statement following Tuesday’s announcement.
Oral arguments for the cases will likely happen in the fall when the court’s next term begins.
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.
