Governor Tony Evers says modern changes to Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law makes it unenforceable.
The governor and Attorney General Josh Kaul yesterday filed a lawsuit in Madison that asks a judge to block Wisconsin’s near-total ban on abortions from taking effect. Wisconsin is one of about two dozen states where abortion became illegal with the end of Roe. The governor says changes made under former Governor Walker cancel-out the original law. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos yesterday said the state’s abortion law can, and will take effect. He called the governor’s lawsuit a ‘political stunt.’
On the other side of the aisle, the head of one of Wisconsin’s leading conservative legal groups says Governor Evers should work with lawmakers if he wants abortion to be legal in the state.
Rick Esenberg with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty yesterday said the governor is acting like a king by declaring that he will ignore the state’s abortion law simply because he doesn’t like it. Esenberg said post-Roe, abortion will be an issue for state legislatures not the courts. He said Governor Evers should work with lawmakers to find common ground as opposed to offering a work-around for doctors to break the law.
