Planned Parenthood Seeks Wisconsin Supreme Court Ruling On Abortion

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will ask the Wisconsin Supreme Court to consider whether the state’s constitution protects a person’s right to abortion.

The organization announced it is filing a petition with the court during a press conference on Thursday.

Michelle Velasquez, chief strategy officer for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said the group’s legal argument centers around the first section of the state constitution, which says that all people have certain inherent rights including “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

“In these inherent rights are bodily autonomy and integrity and the right to self determination,” Velasquez said during a call with reporters. “Other states, other countries and the United Nations have all recognized these inherent rights. And we know that these rights cannot be realized if people do not have access to abortion and control over their own bodies.”

Velasquez said the organization is asking to bring the matter directly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court because the “urgent circumstances” directly impact the health of the state’s residents.

In addition to Planned Parenthood and two of its doctors, four Wisconsin residents identified as adult females of childbearing years are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The individuals, identified by a first name and last initial, are described as having received an abortion for an unintended pregnancy between 2008 and 2016.

Planned Parenthood resumed abortion services at their clinics starting last September in response to another legal case brought by Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul. In December, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Diane Schlipper ruled in that case that the 1849 law bans feticide rather than abortions done with a pregnant person’s consent.

Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski, a Republican, said he would appeal the December ruling. On Tuesday, he filed a petition with the state Supreme Court asking justices to take the case without waiting for a decision from a lower state appeals court.

Velasquez said Planned Parenthood agrees with Urmanski’s request to bring the case directly before the high court to avoid delays. But she said her organization’s new petition is a separate legal argument from Kaul’s case, which asks the court to interpret the state statute.

“What Planned Parenthood Wisconsin is asking the (state) Supreme Court to consider, either before or contemporaneous to the questions in that case, is whether a statute like 940.04 could even stand,” Velasquez said. “Does the Wisconsin constitution allow the Legislature to enact laws that completely restrict or prohibit abortion care?”

She said the state’s highest court needs to provide “guardrails” for state lawmakers as they consider new laws related to abortion, like a bill introduced in January that would ban abortions after 14 weeks.

Velasquez said Planned Parenthood Wisconsin is not asking the court to rule on the constitutionality of the state’s existing abortion restrictions, saying challenges to those laws could come later if their case is successful.

Planned Parenthood asks Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule on constitutional right to abortion was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.