MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Planned Parenthood resumed offering abortion services in Wisconsin on Monday after stopping for more than a year since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Providers across the state stopped offering abortions following the June 2022 ruling, fearing enforcement of an 1849 state law that apparently banned the procedure but was previously overturned by the 1973 Roe decision. A judge ruled last month that the 144-year-old law does not apply to abortions medicine.
Based on the decision, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin began offering abortions at clinics in Madison and Milwaukee again on Monday.
The group did not say how many abortions it expected to perform but said appointments at the Milwaukee clinic on Monday were fully booked within 24 hours of announcing that services would resume.
Without access to abortion care in Wisconsin for the past 15 months, many patients have sought help in neighboring Illinois, where abortion is still widely available. According to Planned Parenthood of Illinois, its clinics have seen a sevenfold increase in patients from Wisconsin since the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
The Wisconsin Women’s Medical Fund, which offers financial assistance for abortion procedures and related costs, helped 477 patients from Wisconsin obtain out-of-state abortions in the first six months of 2023, according to board president Cynthia Lin. Most of those appointments are in Minnesota or Illinois, he said.
John Olkowski protests outside Planned Parenthood, Monday, Sept. 18. 2023, at Milwaukee.AP
Demonstrators are seen in the Wisconsin Capitol Rotunda during a rally in support of overturning Wisconsin’s complete abortion ban.AP
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, even in the return period of legal abortion care in Wisconsin,” Lin said Monday, pointing to the long distances patients still have to travel to reach clinics in Madison or Milwaukee. Lin also highlighted the hurdles created by a state law that requires people seeking an abortion in Wisconsin to undergo an ultrasound and counseling appointment before waiting 24 hours for the procedure.
The lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s 1849 law was brought by the state’s Democratic attorney general and is expected to end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which shifted to liberal control last month.
Democrats, including Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, hailed the resumption of abortion services. Meanwhile, anti-abortion rights groups in the state condemned the move and vowed to continue fighting in court to have the procedure banned.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
