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The Republican prosecutor in Sheboygan County has appealed a Dane County judges ruling that an 1849 law widely interpreted as a near-complete ban on abortions only applies to feticide and not consensual abortions.

But shortly after he filed the appeal with a state district court Wednesday, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski said he plans to also file a petition in the next few weeks to have the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court hear the case directly.

He said a direct appeal to the states highest court could provide the speedy and conclusive end to this dispute that I believe our citizens want, according to a statement first reported by WisPolitics.com. I believe it would be in the best interests of the State as a whole for this issue to be considered and resolved by our Supreme Court immediately.

Urmanskis petition before the 2nd District Court of Appeals asks the court to overturn a 1994 case that led to the determination that the law only applies to feticide. Additionally, he questions whether Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul had standing to bring the lawsuit that led to the Dane County ruling.

Urmanski didnt respond to a request for comment asking whether hell withdraw his appeal if and when he goes directly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Urmanskis appeal seeks to reanimate a 19th century criminal abortion ban, taking away peoples abilities to make decisions about their own lives and futures, said Michelle Velasquez, chief strategy officer for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

She said the organization will continue offering abortions in Milwaukee and Madison and will follow through with its plans to reopen its Sheboygan abortion clinic.

Kaul told the Wisconsin State Journal that he was confident the law is on his side.

Reproductive health care decisions should be made by women, not by the government, he said. As this case moves forward, we will continue standing up for access to safe and legal abortion in Wisconsin.

Dane County Judge Diane Schlippers preliminary ruling in July clarifying the scope of the 1849 law led to the resumption of abortion services in Wisconsin two months later. She issued a final ruling in the case earlier this month.

Abortions were stopped in Wisconsin after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 because many legal experts and abortion providers assumed the 1849 law banned virtually all abortions.

In his lawsuit filed days after that decision, Kaul argued the 1849 law conflicted with later, more permissive abortion bans.

Doctors joined the case late last year to argue that the 174-year-old law didnt apply to abortions at all, but rather only to feticide. They pointed to a 1994 Wisconsin Supreme Court case that found that the law only applied to somebody killing a fetus by assaulting its mother, not consensual abortions.

Its not clear why Kaul didnt initially mention the 1994 case, or why abortion providers closed in June 2022 given the determination in that case.

Kaul initially filed the case against Republican legislative leaders, but he later named as defendants the prosecutors in Dane, Milwaukee and Sheboygan counties, which were home to abortion clinics before Roe was overturned.

"I believe it would be in the best interests of the State as a whole for this issue to be considered and resolved by our Supreme Court immediately."

Joel Urmanski, district attorney for Sheboygan County

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Excerpt from:
Republican prosecutor appeals Wisconsin abortion ruling - Madison.com