Wisconsin Lawmakers To Send Anti-Abortion Bills To Governor

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly was poised to give final approval Wednesday to a package of anti-abortion bills that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is all-but certain to veto.

Final approval of the bills designed the reduce the number of abortions in the state comes after the state Senate, also controlled by Republicans, passed the measures over Democratic objections last week. Republicans do not have enough votes in the Legislature to override an Evers veto. Democrats have accused Republicans of only taking up the bills to energize conservatives ahead of the 2022 midterm election.

Evers is up for reelection next year as is everyone in the Assembly and half of the state Senate.

One bill would require doctors to provide parents of unborn children who test positive for a congenital condition information about the condition. A second proposal would prohibit abortions based on an unborn child’s sex, race or national origin.

A third measure would reduce funding for abortion providers by prohibiting the state from certifying them as a provider under Medicaid. There would be exceptions in cases of sexual assault or incest or if the woman’s life is in danger. A fourth would require doctors to tell any woman seeking a medication-induced abortion that she could still change her mind after ingesting the first dose and could still continue the pregnancy.

The claim that a medicine-induced abortion can be reversed as been criticized by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and American Medical Association as not science-based and potentially life threatening.

The bills come as abortion rights supporters are concerned that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that essentially legalized abortion before a fetus can survive outside the womb. A Wisconsin state law enacted in 1849 made abortions illegal, but that has been unenforceable under the Roe v. Wade decision. That law would go back into effect if the Roe v. Wade decision is overturned.

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Source: CBS Minnesota