Wisconsin Supreme Court Repeals 1849 Abortion Ban in Major Victory

The Wisconsin State Supreme Court relegated a 176-year-old abortion ban to the ash heap of history on Wednesday, as the court’s liberal majority ruled that the ban was superseded by state law that has been passed since. The ban had gone into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“This case is about giving effect to 50 years’ worth of laws passed by the legislature about virtually every aspect of abortion including where, when, and how health-care providers may lawfully perform abortions,” the majority opinion states. “The legislature, as the peoples’ representatives, remains free to change the laws with respect to abortion in the future. But the only way to give effect to what the legislature has actually done over the last 50 years is to conclude that it impliedly repealed the 19th century near-total ban on abortion, and that [the 1849 law] therefore does not prohibit abortion in the State of Wisconsin.”

This is a developing story.