Assembly Bill 975 would let the people of Wisconsin be the final decision-makers
BY REP. KEVIN PETERSEN
As you are reading this article, abortions are occurring in Milwaukee, Madison, and Sheboygan, due to a recent ruling by a Dane County judge.
Few Supreme Court decisions are as well-known as the one issued on Jan. 22, 1973, in Roe v. Wade. The decision balanced a woman’s right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment and her choice to have an abortion.
Furthermore, the decision weighed two legitimate interests of the state while regulating abortions – protecting prenatal life and protecting women’s health. According to the Supreme Court, a state’s interest in the unborn child’s life becomes stronger as a pregnancy progresses. Initially, the ruling tied state regulation to a pregnancy’s 3rd trimester. The Court then changed the framework of the 3rd trimester to an unborn child’s viability – a baby’s ability to live outside the womb.
After nearly half a century, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. With that decision, states again determined the legality of abortions.
Subsequently Wisconsin, like every other state in the Union, was tasked with determining what was currently legal in the state as well as looking at legislative action to codify parameters.
A report by the non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) cited that in 1848, as a new state, Wisconsin’s abortion law was not formally drafted through legislation. Instead, it was part of a compilation of other standard criminal statutes. Three “revisers” were tasked with “filling out” the gaps in the new state’s law, borrowing heavily – and noticeably – from its fellow newly-formed neighbor Michigan.
Found by the LRB, “1849 Wisconsin Chapter 164, Section 11: Every person who shall administer to any woman pregnant with a quick child, any medicine, drug, or substance whatever, or shall use or employ any instrument or other means, with intent thereby to destroy such child, unless the same shall have been necessary to preserve the life of such mother or shall have been advised by two physicians to be necessary for such purpose, shall, in case the death of such child or of such mother be thereby produced, be deemed guilty of manslaughter in the second degree.”
As the LRB report further states: “In 1858 an amendment transformed Wisconsin’s abortion law by striking that one word, ‘quick.’ (In the early United States, ‘quickening’ meant the first perception of fetal movement by the pregnant woman herself, which typically took place near the midpoint of gestation). Wisconsin then went from permitting abortion up to the midway point of a pregnancy to a full ban.”
Wisconsin Stat. § 940.15, enacted in 1985, made abortion a crime only after viability, and only allowed abortion after viability “if the abortion is necessary to preserve the life or health of the woman, as determined by reasonable medical judgment of the woman’s attending physician.”
In 2015, with Roe v. Wade still the law of the land and individual states empowered with determining an unborn child’s viability, the Wisconsin legislature passed into law Senate Bill 179, Wisconsin Act 56 the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” which established a 20-week abortion ban (the point at which an unborn child begins to feel pain).
In addition to this important piece of legislation other pro-life reforms I have voted for include: Defunding Planned Parenthood, Requiring ultrasounds 24 hours prior to an abortion, No taxpayer dollars to fund elective abortions under state health plans, Prohibiting abortion coverage on federal exchange plans, Prohibiting sex selective abortions, and Passing the Born Alive Protection Act which was vetoed by Gov. (Tony) Evers.
After the reversal of Roe v. Wade, a December 2023 ruling from a Dane County Judge held that the 1849 law does not prohibit abortions. Because of this, the law has now “fallen back” to the ban on abortions after 20 weeks (Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act) that I voted for under Governor Walker. Although this case is still being appealed, Planned Parenthood locations across the state are again providing abortions up to 20 weeks.
Furthermore, the current make-up of the Wisconsin Supreme Court has already legislated from the bench on such issues as redistricting, proving they won’t follow the checks and balances provided by the Constitution between the 3 branches of government.
Assembly Bill 975 would let the people of Wisconsin be the final decision makers on the issue of abortion by putting in place a binding statewide referendum on the April 2024 ballot. The bill lowers the threshold at which an abortion is allowed to be performed from the current 20 weeks in statute to 14 weeks. This legislation changes no other aspects of our existing abortion-related laws. There will still be exceptions for the life of the mother after 14 weeks, and all other waiting period and ultrasound requirements remain in place.
As testified by the bill’s author, Amanda Nedweski (R – Pleasant Prairie); “(the) judge ruled that the 1849 law does not actually apply to consensual abortions, but that it only applies to feticide – defined as, ‘the intentional killing of a preborn child without maternal consent.’ As a result of this decision, elective abortions are currently being performed in Wisconsin under the law passed in 2015, which allows abortions to a postfertilization age of not more than 20 weeks.”
Giving Wisconsin voters the final say regarding an issue that has been impossible to reach a consensus is hardly a novel idea. It’s been touted by Democrats and most recently Senator Ron Johnson suggested letting voters have the final say in codifying the state’s abortion laws.
As my legislative record indicates, I have always supported pro-life. The current Wisconsin Supreme Court majority openly acknowledged their pro-abortion bias. They have already demonstrated their propensity to legislate from the bench and will use any method available in the future to permanently make abortions – all the way until the baby’s birth – constitutional. Rather than place the fate of so many unborn children in the hands of the 7 Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices, I voted to give the decision to all Wisconsinites.
What do you think about this Issue? Email my office at rep.petersen@legis.wisconsin.gov