The Wisconsin Supreme Court voted 4–3 on July 2 to strike down the state’s 176-year-old almost-total ban on abortion.
Justice Rebecca Frank Dallet wrote the majority opinion.
“We conclude that comprehensive legislation enacted over the last 50 years regulating in detail the ‘who, what, where, when, and how’ of abortion so thoroughly covers the entire subject of abortion that it was meant as a substitute for the 19th century near-total ban on abortion,” Dallet wrote.
“Accordingly, we hold that the legislature impliedly repealed [Section] 940.04(1) as to abortion, and that [Section] 940.04(1) therefore does not ban abortion in the State of Wisconsin.”
The new ruling came three years after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade (1973), holding that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion. The rule returned the regulation of the procedure to the states….