SHEBOYGAN, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin resumed abortion services at its Sheboygan location Thursday more than 18 months after suspending them.
The Sheboygan Health Center, along with Planned Parenthood clinics in Milwaukee and Madison, stopped performing abortions in June 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision which guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion.
Abortion services were reactivated in Milwaukee and Madison in September following an initial ruling from Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper, which said a 173-year-old Wisconsin law that conservatives interpreted as banning abortion did not apply to consensual medical abortions.
Schlipper reaffirmed her ruling earlier this month, paving the way for Planned Parenthood leaders to resume abortion services in Sheboygan.
“Abortion bans and restrictions don’t make it so people don’t ever need abortions. They just make things, including pregnancy, riskier,” said Chief Strategy Officer Michelle Velasquez.
“Our long term goals are to expand abortion access and services throughout the state of Wisconsin, but in order to do that we really have to focus on the laws,” Velasquez added.
Pro-Life Wisconsin held a rally and prayer gathering outside the Sheboygan Planned Parenthood location Thursday morning to coincide with the clinic’s resumption of abortions.
In social media posts promoting the rally, the group wrote, “Our hope is to attempt to open the hearts and minds of both abortion workers and pregnant mothers. Help us to keep the unborn alive and unharmed.”
Republican Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski has appealed Schlipper’s ruling. The case is likely to end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
