The Wisconsin Supreme Court listens to arguments during a redistricting hearing at the state Capitol, Nov. 21, 2023, in Madison, Wis. The court decided Wednesday, July 2, 2025, that the state’s 176-year-old law does not ban abortion.
Ruthie Hauge/AP/Pool The Capital Times
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Ruthie Hauge/AP/Pool The Capital Times
MILWAUKEE – Supporters of reproductive rights are celebrating a win in Wisconsin. After years of litigation over an 1849 law that conservatives argue criminalizes abortions in the state, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the law does not actually ban abortion.
This means abortions can continue in the state.
It marks the end of a saga that began when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, ending federal constitutional protections for abortion. While it was clear in some states that abortion would be banned, and in others that abortion would be protected, Wisconsin found itself in a legal gray area.
Because of the 1849 law, abortion providers in the state stopped offering the procedure. But Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul sued at the time, challenging the law, and the issue of how to interpret the 1849 statute has been in the courts since June of 2022.
In December 2023, the trial court found that the law doesn’t outlaw abortions, that it is actually a feticide law that makes it illegal to attack and kill a woman’s child without her consent. Since that ruling, people have been able to get abortions in Wisconsin, up to 20 weeks or beyond if necessary to save the life or health of the mother, according to a law passed in the 1980s.
On Wednesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed, along party lines, with the trial court’s decision that the law is not a ban on abortion. The court has a 4-3 liberal majority, which it maintained after some highly publicized and heavily funded elections for its open seats in 2023 and 2025.
This story will be updated.
