Wisconsin Supreme Court Strikes Down 1849 Abortion Ban

In a closely watched decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down the state’s 176-year-old abortion ban, ruling 4–3 that it had been superseded by modern abortion laws, Todd Richmond reported for AP.

The decision came as no surprise, with liberal justices having criticized the ban during hearings last November.

The court’s liberal majority found that newer laws—particularly those regulating abortions based on fetal viability—take precedence.

The 1849 law, which made it a felony for anyone but the mother or a doctor in a medical emergency to terminate a pregnancy, had been dormant during Roe v. Wade’s 50-year run, but conservatives argued that the 2022 repeal of Roe reactivated it.

The decision came as no surprise, with liberal justices having criticized the ban during hearings last November. One justice had even campaigned explicitly on defending abortion rights.

The case was brought by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, who cited a 1985 statute that allows abortion up to the point of fetal viability—typically around 21 weeks—as effectively overriding the archaic ban.