OP-ED: Marking the 52nd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Amid Ongoing Threats to Abortion Care

52 years ago – on January 22, 1973 – the United States Supreme Court issued their ruling in Roe v. Wade. It was a ruling that protected our constitutional right to abortion care for nearly five decades, until 2022 when extreme right-wing justices hand-picked by Donald Trump overturned that protection and sent several states back decades on reproductive rights.

Now, as the Wisconsin Supreme Court considers a case that could once again protect our right to abortion care, right-wing judge Brad Schimel – who’s seeking a seat on the court – has publicly supported using a law from 1849 to criminalize and ban abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest. The law Schimel supports would also impose criminal penalties on doctors and nurses that provide abortion care.

Schimel also supports a Wisconsin law that requires women to undergo mandatory and invasive ultrasounds before being permitted to seek abortion care. Schimel, in his own words, described the law and others like it as, “good laws that have helped women make sound decisions.”

Republican leaders in our state legislature have also said they intend to introduce and pass a new abortion ban this legislative session, despite the fact that two-thirds of Wisconsinites believe abortion should remain safe and legal across the state.

These right-wing threats are reverberating at the federal level, too. Less than one day after Trump’s inauguration, the federal government website that helps people across the nation find information on reproductive healthcare was taken down.

As we mark the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Wisconsinites should be making our own reproductive healthcare decisions- not politicians.

Call Brad Schimel (262-548-7548) and your representatives in the legislature (1-800-362-9472) today and remind them that politicians have no place in our private medical decisions.