Planned Parenthood to resume providing abortions in Wisconsin

Planned Parenthood said Thursday that it will resume providing abortions in Wisconsin following a July court ruling that found a law from 1849 doesn’t apply to voluntary abortions.

The organization said abortions would resume Monday at clinics in Milwaukee and Madison.

Planned Parenthood is the state’s largest abortion provider, but those services have been paused since June 2022 following the Supreme Court Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. 

That decision triggered Wisconsin’s 1849 law that providers interpreted as banning almost all abortions.

“For more than a year, patients have been forced to navigate significant barriers to access safe, legal abortion, if they were able to access that care at all,” the organization said. 

Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul sued to challenge the law, and a judge in July ruled that the lawsuit can proceed because the law outlaws killing fetuses, but it doesn’t ban abortions.

The lawsuit is expected to eventually reach the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which flipped to liberal control Aug. 1.

“With patients and community as our central priority and driving force, we are eager to resume abortion services and provide this essential care to people in our State,” Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said in a statement. 

“With the recent confirmation from the Court that there is not an enforceable abortion ban in Wisconsin, our staff can now provide the full scope of sexual and reproductive health care to anyone in Wisconsin who needs it, no matter what,” Atkinson said.