WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – Planned Parthood of Wisconsin has announced a petition that could change the issue of abortion in Wisconsin as we know it.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jessie Opoien, the organization is set to formally file the petition with the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, asking the court to interpret the state constitution and find that it protects the “fundamental right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right to abortion.”
This petition comes only two months after Dane County judge Diane Schlipper ruled that Wisconsin’s 1849 law did not apply to “consensual abortions” and only to “feticide,” which is defined as the act of killing a fetus or causing a miscarriage without the mother’s consent.
That decision was quickly rebuked by Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski, who announced shortly after Judge Schlipper’s ruling that his office would be appealing the decision. Urmanski’s office formally filed their appeal this week, asking the Supreme Court to take the case without waiting for a decision from a lower state appeals court.
Many legal and political experts have expected that this issue would come before the court after newly elected Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in, giving a 4-3 liberal majority on the court after running as supportive of expanding legal abortion throughout the state.
Back in January, Wisconsin Republicans proposed and passed a bill in the Assembly that would ban abortions in the state after 14 weeks or the beginning of the second trimester. The bill would not apply in cases of rape and incest and would set up a statewide referendum during the upcoming April election, asking voters if they supported it taking effect.
“The people should be deciding on abortion, not the court. (This bill gives the people a voice,” bill co-author Rep. Amanda Nedweski, R-Pleasant Prairie, told reporters before January’s Assembly vote. “Why would anyone not want to hear directly from the people?”
In Marquette Law’s most recent poll, they found a change in Wisconsin voters’ opinion on abortion, with 70% of respondents saying that abortion should be allowed in all or most cases and 30% saying abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. When asked if they supported the proposed 14-week bill, 45% favored it, while 48% opposed it.
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