Planned Parenthood Won't Perform Abortions In Wisconsin

WISCONSIN — Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will no longer perform abortions, its president announced Friday, citing a 173-year-old law that remains intact and is newly relevant in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“Today, our daughters have less rights than their mothers, less rights than their grandmothers,” CEO and President Tanya Atkinson said in a video posted on Twitter. “People should be able to make their own healthcare decisions; this should not be political.”

The law, an abortion ban from 1849, would make it a felony for people to get abortions except to save the life of the mother. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.

“Because that law was not repealed, because that law remains in effect, today Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has been forced to temporarily suspend abortion services,” Atkinson said.

Gov. Tony Evers said he would continue to fight to ensure reproductive rights for Wisconsinites. But state Republicans earlier this week gaveled out of a special legislative session called by Evers to end the ban.

Atkinson told members of the media that Planned Parenthood turned away patients in its waiting rooms Friday morning when the decision was handed down, Jessie Opoien of The Capital Times reported in a Twitter thread, adding the organization had had roughly 70 abortion patients scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is evaluating its legal options and will help patients access abortions in states where the procedure has not been banned, as well as assist with abortion aftercare and provide financial aid for those who need it to obtain an abortion, Atkinson said in the video.

Legal abortions are expected to continue to be available in the Wisconsin border states of Illinois and Minnesota, according to the Guttmacher Institute.