Wisconsin Abortion Law Time Travels Back To 1849 [EDITORIAL]

The 19th Amendment, which granted American women the right to vote, was passed by Congress in 1919. The Emancipation Proclamation, the executive order that abolished slavery, was issued in the year 1863. The state of Wisconsin’s current abortion law, which prohibits abortions for any reason other than to save the life of the mother, was made in 1849.

Wisconsin legislation just went back in time nearly 200 years.

Since the Supreme Court recently overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that protected the liberty to choose to have an abortion in the United States, it has been left up to the states to create their own laws surrounding abortion access. Unfortunately, some states have “trigger laws” that have caused them to revert back to previous legislation.

The pre-Civil War era Wisconsin state law which abolishes the freedom of choice was automatically set in place after this devastating Supreme Court decision. This news is upsetting as it restricts healthcare and takes away the ability for women and girls to control what happens to their own lives and bodies, regardless of circumstance.

Just because a pregnant person will be prevented from seeking out a safe medical procedure does not mean that it will not happen. This new old law only encourages unsafe and life-threatening methods.

Additionally, just because a child is born against the will of the mother does not mean that the child will be loved, cared for, or given a fair chance at life.

Pregnancy takes a physical and mental toll as it is a traumatic experience that has lasting effects on any person, even one that willingly goes through with it. It impacts lives for nearly a year, limiting finances, relationships, and careers. It is the biggest decision a person can make and the government just took the oppurtunity away.

We hope that the law that was created within the year that Wisconsin became a state does not last long, and other Wisconsin politicians are in agreement.

Governor Tony Evers has been open in expressing his pro-choice beliefs for the state, and has spoken out against the 1849 law. In a recent Twitter post responding to the breaking news of the Supreme Court’s ruling, Evers stated that abortion was “a decision that should be made without interference from politicians or members of the Supreme Court who don’t know anything about their life circumstances, values, or responsibilities.”

He, alongside Wisconsin’s current Attorney General Josh Kaul, have filed a lawsuit that will directly challenge the state’s ban on abortion.

The challenge argues that the 19th Century law is not relevant because there have been more recent rulings that work against the restrictions stated in it. Multiple laws cannot simultaneously exist that contradict the others, so this outdated one must go.

Though action is being taken to change the law, it could still be a matter of months if it turns out successful.

Pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion. It simply means that everyone should have an equal right to claim ownership over their bodies and make a medical decision regardless of any one politician’s individual beliefs, or any other person’s for that matter.

We cannot let a law that was set in place 173 years ago, before the government would acknowledge over half of the country’s population as full human beings, abolish the freedom of choice in regards to what happens to our own lives and bodies.