Wis. Democrats, Gov. Tony Evers call for end of 1849 abortion ban with new legislation.

Byline: eduran

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, State Sen. Kelda Roys and State Rep. Lisa Subeck announced reintroduction of legislation to repeal the state's 1849 criminal abortion ban in the current legislative session. Abortion access in the state was left uncertain when the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The bill would "cleanly repeal" the Civil War-era abortion prohibitions, the governor's office said. The state's 1849 abortion law makes it a felony for a provider to perform an abortion at any stage of felony without exception of rape or incest. The only exception to the law is to save the pregnant person's life.

Evers said in a statement he wouldn't sign a bill leaving Wisconsin women with fewer rights and freedoms than they had before Roe.

"This bill will simply restore access to safe, legal abortion in Wisconsin to what it was on June 23, 2022nothing more, and nothing less. We must restore Roe, and I'm proud to join Legislative Democrats in continuing our fight to restore access to reproductive freedom in Wisconsin with a clean repeal our state's 1849-era criminal abortion ban," Gov. Evers said.

Wisconsin's law, which was enacted before the Civil War and well before women gained the right to vote, would bar patients from access to abortion care they need, Rep. Subeck (D-Madison) said in a statement.

"Abortion is health care. As long as doctors face the threat of prosecution for providing basic reproductive health care, and as long as extremist Republicans continue putting politics ahead of our rights, patients will not have access to the abortion care they need in our state. The bill we introduced today would Restore Roe in Wisconsin by returning the state of abortion access to exactly what it was before Roe v. Wade was overturned, restoring our freedom to make our own reproductive health care decisions without interference from politicians," Rep...

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