Wisconsin Supreme Court grapples with whether state’s 175-year-old abortion ban is valid

Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An attorney representing a conservate prosecutor is struggling to convince Wisconsin’s liberal-leaning Supreme Court to reactivate the state’s 175-year-old abortion ban. Republicans have argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe vs. Wade in 2022 reactivated the ban. But Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul won a ruling from a Dane County judge last year that the ban prohibits feticide, not abortion. Republican prosecutor Joel Urmanski has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that decision. His attorney, Matthew Thome, told the justices during oral arguments Monday that the ban was never repealed. Liberal Justice Jill Karofsky told Thome that he was asking the court to sign a “death warrant” for women and children in Wisconsin.