Overview

• In a 4-3 ruling, the Supreme Court held that a 1985 statute allowing abortions until fetal viability supersedes the 1849 ban.
• The original law, adopted in 1849, made it a felony for anyone other than the pregnant woman to intentionally end the life of an unborn child.
• Attorney General Josh Kaul sued in 2022 to affirm that the viability-based law overrides the older ban, while Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski defended its continued enforceability.
• The decision provides abortion providers and patients with clear legal assurance that state law protects abortion services.
• Justices will next consider a separate Planned Parenthood challenge to the restriction’s constitutionality, and the court’s liberal majority remains intact through at least 2028.