Republicans announce abortion bill allowing exceptions for rape and incest. Here's why the bill won't become law.
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MADISON - A group of Republican lawmakers released legislation Wednesday that would allow doctors to provide abortions to victims of rape and incest and in situations when the mother is experiencing serious pregnancy complications — a proposal that was immediately rejected by the state Senate's top Republican and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
The move by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and a handful of colleagues comes during a nationally scrutinized race for a seat on the state Supreme Court that revolves around the future of the state's 19th-century abortion ban and despite a promise from Evers to veto such legislation in order to preserve a lawsuit he launched to overturn the state's abortion law altogether.
Vos, a Republican from Rochester, said Republicans were moving the legislation forward anyway because he wants the state Legislature to handle abortion policy instead of turning the state's highest court into a "super Legislature."
"The first hope is that (conservative Supreme Court candidate) Dan Kelly wins the election so that we have a Legislature that actually is a place where political decisions are made, not the state Supreme Court," Vos said at a press conference in the state Capitol. "I'm an optimist. I think that eventually people will realize that the right way to do it is through the traditional process, not through a super Legislature, the state Supreme Court, but hopefully the voters agree."
"I think, hopefully, 100% of the public thinks that we should update the statute," Vos said.
But the Senate's Republican leader was not on board and said Wednesday the bill would not be taken up on his chamber's floor.
"Further discussion on this specific proposal is unnecessary. The bill will not be considered on the floor of the Senate," Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said in a statement, citing Evers' pledge to veto the bill.
His rejection of the proposal came as anti-abortion lobbying groups, which Republican lawmakers routinely seek endorsements from during their campaigns, also expressed concerns about its content.
Matt Sande, Pro-Life Wisconsin Legislative Director, said any legislation that allows abortions "is incapable of being justified."
"A vote to add more exceptions to Wisconsin’s abortion ban is a vote to kill more preborn babies. It is that simple," Sande said in a statement. "It is always and everywhere wrong, regardless of motivation or consequence. It may never be employed, even in the narrowest of circumstances, as a means to a greater end."
Gracie Skogman, lobbyist for Wisconsin Right to Life, said the group appreciated "efforts to clarify and strengthen the life of the mother exception. However, there are parts of the updated language we have concerns with. Our main focus right now in on ensuring (the abortion ban) remains in effect and continues to save lives."
Under the legislation circulated Wednesday, doctors face felony charges if they perform abortions except in situations involving victims of sexual assault and incest during the first trimester of a pregnancy, when women experience an anembryonic, molar or ectopic pregnancy, and in any circumstance in which the fetus has no chance of survival, including a physical condition of the fetus that makes survival outside of the uterus impossible.
The bill clarifies that the law's criminal penalties don't apply to a "therapeutic abortion" that physicians believe is necessary or advised by two other physicians as necessary, to save the life of a mother, or to avoid substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the mother. Doctors also are not banned from performing abortions to remove a fetus without a heartbeat.
"We are empowering the moms and the fathers who are trying to have children to work with their medical providers to make sure that they have the healthiest viable baby and that mom's life is protected in the process," Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, said.
The state's revived abortion ban, which outlaws all abortions unless the mother will die without one, has made Wisconsin a less-attractive state to practice in the field of reproductive health, according to OB/GYN experts, potentially leading to a medical workforce less experienced at handling miscarriages and other reproductive procedures.
Abortion restrictions will also have downstream effects on the state’s physician labor force as a whole, not only influencing where OB/GYN doctors choose to live and work but shaping the decisions of doctors training or practicing in other specialties, too, according to Jenny Higgins, a UW-Madison professor of obstetrics and gynecology and gender and women’s studies.
Kathryn Ann Dielentheis, an assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical College of Wisconsin who practices at Froedtert Health, said since Roe v. Wade was overturned, she has observed some fear within the Wisconsin medical community treating pregnant women of not meeting the letter of law when making treatment decisions when patients experience complications like ectopic pregnancies.
According to recent state polling by the Marquette University Law School, the vast majority of Wisconsin voters want exceptions to the state's 1849 abortion law.
The state's abortion ban was put back into effect in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to set their own abortion policies. That move pushed Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul and Evers to file a lawsuit to overturn the law altogether.
Whether the 1849 law is enforceable is at issue in the lawsuit. Republican lawmakers, abortion opponents and conservative legal experts say the law is now in effect. But nonpartisan attorneys for the state Legislature, Democratic lawmakers, and supporters of abortion access say potential and expected legal challenges muddy the answer to the question.
Practically, abortions have not been available in Wisconsin since the ruling given the legal uncertainty and the state ban in statute.
The debate has become central to campaigns since then. Vos said Wednesday the bill likely won't be taken up before the state Supreme Court election on April 4. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who is running with the backing of Democrats, has made the abortion issue a central theme of her campaign.
Gov. Tony Evers renews pledge to veto any abortion law that doesn't restore Roe
On Wednesday, Evers again pledged not to sign a new abortion law "that leaves Wisconsin women with fewer rights and freedoms" than before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Before then, doctors could perform abortions up until about 20 weeks of pregnancy. Evers has said he would sign a bill that puts back into effect a 20-week ban on abortions.
Vos said there are enough Republican votes to pass the bill out of the Assembly but it is all but certain to not get to Evers' desk with LeMahieu's promise to keep the bill off the Senate floor.
Senate Minority Leader Melissa Agard, D-Madison, said Wednesday she supports a full repeal of the state's abortion law, signaling Democrats would not provide bill authors with enough votes to make up for Republican No votes.
"I, like the majority of Wisconsinites, believe that we must repeal the state's 1849 criminal abortion ban and restore the rights, liberties, and freedoms that were afforded to women under Roe. There is absolutely no room for a politician in the doctor's office of any individual," she said in a statement.
“The legislation put forth by my Republican colleagues is both out of touch and out of line with the people of Wisconsin. The bill builds on a law that was passed over 170 years ago — before women were allowed to vote and when people were allowed to be owned for their labor."
Agard said Republicans "are simply flailing" after losing the 2022 governor's race and other midterm races, in part, because of their stance on abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
“Any legislation that does not provide a woman with autonomy of her own body and her own healthcare decisions is a nonstarter for my caucus," she said.
LeMahieu said in January he supports clarifying the law to address uncertainty on the part of doctors in situations involving complications like ectopic pregnancies, which can require abortion procedures to address before a woman's health is at risk.
Vos also previously said he would support requiring victims of rape to show doctors a police report before they could obtain an abortion but Wednesday's legislation does not include such a requirement.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Republicans launch doomed abortion bill with rape, incest exception
