The Republican-majority Wisconsin State Assembly has passed AB 975 by a 53-46 vote on Thursday. This bill would place a referendum in the April 2024 election proposing to prohibit most abortions in the state after 14 weeks of pregnancy. This would shorten the current time limitation of 20 weeks, as stipulated by Wisconsin law.
Under the proposed bill, abortions would be forbidden unless there was a “medical emergency,” as defined in Wisconsin law. In order for a condition to qualify as a medical emergency, a physician must judge that an immediate abortion is required to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or a delay of 24 hours in carrying out the abortion would result in a serious risk of substantial and irreversible damage to one or more of the woman’s major bodily functions.
If a medical emergency arises after 14 weeks of gestation, the proposed bill states that the physician should terminate the pregnancy in the manner that, based on their medical judgment, provides the best chance for the unborn child to survive. This is unless doing so poses a greater danger to either the life of the pregnant woman or the risk of substantial and irreversible physical harm to a major bodily function of the woman, compared to other methods available.
The bill also necessitates that the performing physician provide a statement about each abortion performed. The bill now heads to the Republican-majority Wisconsin State Senate for approval. If approved, it will then proceed to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, for his approval. However, in response to the bill, Evers has stated that he has promised to veto any bill that reduces Wisconsinites’ reproductive freedom or limits the accessibility of reproductive healthcare as it stands now, and he intends to honour that promise.
This Wisconsin bill is not the only referendum concerning abortion rights that may be on the 2024 ballots. The Florida Division of Elections has confirmed that the group Floridians Protecting Freedom (FPF) successfully gathered enough signatures for an amendment to appear on the Florida ballot. The amendment enshrines protections for abortion in the state constitution. Also, in 2023, abortion rights advocates in Arizona filed paperwork to include the issue in the November 2024 ballot. Ohio voters have also voted in favor of enshrining abortion rights into their state constitution. These developments provide a wider context to the ongoing debates and legal battles around abortion rights in the U.S.
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