Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford and abortion rights advocates rallied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Tuesday, the first day of early voting, to campaign for the pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court Election on April 1.
Crawford highlighted her mission to remain fair and impartial as a justice, as someone who will look at the facts to apply the law and “protect the people.” She said she wants people to understand what is at stake with this election, emphasizing reproductive health care access and the safety of Wisconsin communities.
“I make sure that I get the facts right in every case based on the evidence, because the truth is really important in our courts and our justice system,” Crawford said. “I never lose sight of the fact that the people in my courtroom are real people with real problems, and we need to make sure that we solve those problems as judges.”
Throughout her career, Crawford has represented school teachers who challenged a provision of Act 10 that eliminated collective bargaining for most public employees, stood with the nonpartisan League of Women Voters who fought for all eligible Wisconsin voters to be able to exercise their right to vote and represented Planned Parenthood and their doctors in abortion rights cases.
“I'm proud of the work I did fighting for the rights of Wisconsinites in our courts, protecting our fundamental rights,” Crawford said. “I work hard every day, every case in front of me, to make sure that I'm delivering justice for the people in my courtroom.”
Crawford mentioned her winning case against her opponent, Brad Schimel — Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin v. Schimel — where Schimel, while serving as attorney general under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, threatened doctors with felony prosecutions and the loss of their medical license if they provided safe, high-quality health care for women who require necessary services like abortions.
“We beat him [Schimel] once folks, we can beat him again,” Crawford said.
Crawford continued to discuss the millions of dollars Schimel has received from Elon Musk — with the number growing daily — ultimately aiding in his campaign.
“But I have a secret weapon. It's all of you. I have the power of the people. People are angry at what they see happening, and they should be. People don't like to see somebody from outside coming into the state of Wisconsin and trying to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” Crawford said.
In addition to Crawford, Amanda Zurwaski, a victim of the Texas abortion ban, spoke at the event to raise awareness about the importance of abortion rights in this election. Zurawski, an Austin, Texas native, lives under one of the strictest abortion bans in the country with no exception for rape or incest. The only exception in the ban is for the life of the mother.
In 2022, despite Zurwaski and her husband's efforts to conceive their baby, she felt the “brunt” of that ban when she miscarried at 18 weeks. As the Texas abortion ban had gone into effect the week prior to her miscarriage, her doctor could not do anything until Zurwaski’s life was at stake.
“I had to literally be dying before my doctor could intervene. And that's what happened. I went into septic shock in a matter of minutes,” Zurwaski said.
As a result of what Zurwaski went through, her reproductive fertility is compromised forever. Zurwaski, along with 21 other plaintiffs impacted by the abortion ban, sued the state of Texas. But last year, the Texas Supreme Court unanimously ruled that no one was harmed.
“I have been robbed of the opportunity to have children in the future, and I wasn’t harmed. This is the impact your Supreme Court can have on your daily lives,” Zurwaski said. “If you decide to have one [a family], the last person you're going to want making that very personal decision with you is a politician, right?”
Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, noted Schimel’s public support for the 1849 abortion ban, quoting Pro-Life Wisconsin that “the easiest road to enacting a total abortion ban in Wisconsin will be to elect Brad Schimel to the state Supreme Court.”
Abortion has been a central campaign issue for Wisconsin Democrats after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending constitutionally protected abortion access nationwide. The decision triggered an 1849 Wisconsin law to go back into effect.
In September 2023, Dane County judge Diane Schlipper ruled the 19th century law does not ban abortion, leaving the liberal-controlled court to hear a case soon on whether the ban is law and if the Wisconsin Constitution protects the right to an abortion.
Zurwaski highlighted that this does not have to be Wisconsin’s fate, encouraging everyone to go vote for Crawford, a “protector” of abortion rights.
“Don’t underestimate the power of your one voice and the change that you can affect by fighting back,” Zurwaski told The Daily Cardinal. “Like Susan Crawford says, ‘the power’s with the people,’ and so as long as we continue to stay engaged and continue to fight back, I do think that even though it’s going to be a difficult battle, it’s one worth fighting and I do think we can win it.”
Early in-person voting in Wisconsin started on March 18, and on-campus polling locations at Memorial Union and the Health Sciences Learning Center are open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and at Union South from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through March 28.
Clara Strecker is a copy chief for The Daily Cardinal. She also covers state news.
