Since the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe in June 2022, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin stopped offering abortion but has continued to offer other reproductive health services at its clinics in Madison, above, Sheboygan and Milwaukee.
With a Dane County judge expected to decide soon on a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s 1849 criminal ban on abortion, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin officials are making plans to restart abortion services if permitted by the ruling.
“If there's a favorable outcome from Dane County that would allow us to resume services, we would continue to provide those services unless and until another court's order told us that we couldn't,” Michelle Velasquez, the director of legal advocacy and services, tells Isthmus.
“It's never gonna be quite as easy to flip a switch,” adds Dr. Allison Linton, Planned Parenthood’s associate medical director. “But I think that we owe it to our patients and to the people of Wisconsin that we will flip as soon as we can and as soon as we have guidance from the courts that we're safe to do so. We absolutely are ready to provide care because that's what we do. It's healthcare.”
One year ago today the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that federally protected the right to an abortion. After Dobbs, Wisconsin reverted to an 1849 criminal abortion statute that targets medical professionals who provide abortions, not women who get them.
Since Dobbs, Linton and other Planned Parenthood staff have been traveling to the organization’s clinic in Waukegan, Illinois, where abortion is legal, to help support the influx of Wisconsin patients seeking out-of-state abortion care. These staffers would start providing abortions services again in Wisconsin at the Madison, Sheboygan and Milwaukee locations if the legal landscape allows, says Velasquez. These three clinics have remained open, offering other reproductive health services.
Four days after the Dobbs decision, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed suit in Dane County court, arguing that the 1800s law should be rendered obsolete because it has not been used in more than 50 years and that a series of newer, less restrictive 20th century laws directly conflict with the 1849 statute.
Circuit Court Judge Diane Schlipper heard oral arguments on May 4 from Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski, a Republican prosecutor, who has filed a motion to dismiss Kaul’s lawsuit.
Velasquez says it is likely either losing party would immediately appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals or directly to the state Supreme Court. That complicates any resumption of services, Velasquez says. It’s possible Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin could start providing abortion services, then have to stop them again if a contrary court decision follows.
Even if the courts were to lift the 1849 ban, Velasquez and Linton stress that restrictions and regulations in place before the Dobbs decision make abortion inaccessible to many.
Wisconsin law requires an in-person counseling session prior to the procedure and then a 24-hour wait before the service can be provided. Providers are also unable to use telemedicine to provide abortion medication, a service legal in 32 states. And Wisconsin Medicaid does not cover abortion services except in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of a pregnant person.
“Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s accessible,” says Linton. “We still have a lot of work to do to try to increase access for our patients.”
Velasquez says Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is grateful for Kaul’s lawsuit, but it’s just one step along the way in Planned Parenthood’s long-term legal strategy.
“We're really seeing this as a marathon and not a sprint as the legal landscape will continually change over time,” says Velasquez. “We know that we don't have a federal constitutional right as a backstop anymore, so we have to focus all of our efforts in our own state to try to make abortion accessible and protect it for the long term.”
