Abortion will continue to be legal in Wisconsin after the state’s Supreme Court said Wednesday that a 176-year-old law is not an abortion ban, ruling that it has been superseded by more recent laws.
Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Dallet wrote for the 4-3 liberal majority that the Wisconsin state Legislature had effectively repealed the 1849 law when it enacted additional laws regulating access to abortion.
“Comprehensive legislation enacted over the last 50 years regulating in detail the ‘who, what, where, when, and how’ of abortion so thoroughly covers the entire subject of abortion that it was meant as a substitute for the 19th century near-total ban on abortion,” Dallet wrote.
Abortion services were paused in the state following the June 2022 Supreme Court Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. That decision triggered Wisconsin’s 1849 law that providers interpreted as banning almost all abortions.
Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to challenge the law, and a judge last year ruled that the lawsuit can proceed because the law outlaws killing fetuses, but it doesn’t ban abortions.
The Badger State’s top court has been majority liberal since Justice Janet Protasiewicz won a 2023 election in which she made support for abortion rights a campaign centerpiece.
