In accordance with his promise, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski has declared his intention to appeal Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper’s ruling this week, which determined that an 1849 law does not prohibit abortion. In a reaffirmation of her July findings, Judge Schlipper stated that the law only applies to instances where a woman is attacked with the intention of killing her unborn child, a practice known as feticide. However, she noted that it does not apply to what she described as a “consensual medical abortion.”
The law was reactivated, or “triggered,” by the 2022 Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
“I am obliged to comply with that ruling, unless the decision is stayed pending appeal or ultimately reversed,” Urmanski stated in a written declaration. It is important to note that I do not agree with the decision and intend to appeal it.
Following the issuance of her July 7th decision, Urmanski filed a motion requesting that Judge Schlipper reconsider her ruling. In a 14-page opinion issued on Tuesday, the judge wrote that Urmanski had failed to demonstrate how she had misapplied state law or made any other mistake. Furthermore, the judge declared that the plaintiffs had won the suit.
In it she wrote
This Court recently determined that there is no such thing as an “1849 Abortion Ban” in Wisconsin. Specifically, this Court held that Wis. Stat. § 940.04 does not apply to consensual abortions, but to feticide, consistent with the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision in State v. Black, 188 Wis. 2d 639, 526 N.W.2d 132 (1994).
Judge Schlipper’s ruling did not formally conclude the lawsuit. However, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin was sufficiently confident in the decision to resume abortion procedures at their Madison and Milwaukee clinics in September, as reported by The Associated Press.
Background
In the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, Wisconsin’s pro-abortion Attorney General, Josh Kaul, initiated legal proceedings against the President of the Wisconsin State Senate, the Majority Leader of the Wisconsin State Senate, and the Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Heather Weininger, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life, and Gracie Skogman, Legislative & PAC Director of Wisconsin Right to Life, have stated that Attorney General Kaul’s argument is correct. They contend that there are conflicting criminal laws on the issue of abortion, that the defendants are correct as they are officers of the state, and that the venue location is correct as the seat of government is in Dane County.
While Dane County is the location of the state capitol, it is also home to an abortion facility and is known for its liberal political leanings, including county circuit court judges. After the three original defendants sought to have the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that they were not the correct defendants, Kaul wasted no time in seeking to amend the lawsuit and identify new defendants.
The current defendants are the county district attorneys who were responsible for regulating abortion clinics prior to the Dobbs decision. Two of the named defendants, Chisholm and Ozanne, have publicly stated that they would not enforce the law even before they were added as defendants. The sole named defendant to argue against dismissal on the grounds that it would allow district attorneys to perform their duties without hindrance is Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski.
In July, Judge Schlipper permitted the case to proceed despite a motion from Urmanski to have the case dismissed. This information was reported by Todd Richmond of Fox News.
On Monday, Judge Schlipper cited the holdings of an unrelated 2022 case in reaching her conclusion.
In sum, Urmanski fails to make any “heightened showing of wholesale disregard, misapplication, or failure to recognize controlling precedent.” Accordingly, the Court denies Urmanski’s motion for reconsideration.
Planned Parenthood reacts quickly
Weininger and Skogman proceeded to elucidate that “Subsequently, following Judge Schlipper’s indication that she would issue a ruling in this matter earlier this summer, Planned Parenthood facilities in Milwaukee and Madison commenced scheduling abortion appointments with remarkable alacrity.” Now that the ruling has been made official, they have stated their intention to “resume abortion services at [their] Sheboygan health center as soon as possible.”
“Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, over 30,000 lives have been saved nationwide, and an increasing number of women are seeking support from pregnancy help centers throughout their pregnancies and beyond,” Skogman stated. “Abortion providers offer nothing but death for the preborn children they serve and hopelessness to the women they claim to serve.”
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
