MADISON – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin – along with the Wisconsin Doulas of Color Collective, Freedom Inc., Wisconsin Abortion Support Network, and Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee – filed an amicus brief at the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Urmanski,, supporting the legal challenge to Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law and asking that the Supreme Court overturn it.
The brief states that the 176-year-old ban violates the Wisconsin Constitution’s guarantee to afford equal rights to all people, arguing that the adverse effects of outlawing abortion fall disproportionately on marginalized communities, including people of color, rural residents, immigrants and undocumented people, and low-income populations.
The brief also highlights that a ban would exacerbate existing health disparities and economic inequalities and impose severe financial and logistical challenges on Wisconsin’s most vulnerable residents.
From 2016 to 2019. Black women accounted for just 10 percent of births in the state but over one-third of pregnancy-related deaths.
“Affirming a constitutional abortion ban would compound Wisconsin’s well-known maternal health crisis and hit the most vulnerable pregnant people in our state the hardest, ” said Hayley Archer, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin. “It would increase maternal mortality rates across the board, particularly for Black women, who account for a vastly disproportionate share of pregnancy-related deaths. It would further strain under-resourced rural hospitals, 44 percent of which do not deliver babies or offer obstetric services. And our immigrant neighbors – who are already more likely to go without healthcare due to a widespread lack of insurance and fear of deportation – will be even less likely to get the care they need and deserve.”
“Abortion bans are destructive for low-income people,” said Dr. Melinda Brennan, Executive Director of the ACLU of Wisconsin. “The majority of abortion seekers live in poverty, and forcing these individuals and their families to incur the costs of traveling outside of the state for care will only drive them deeper into financial distress.”
“When denied access to an abortion, women are more likely to face eviction, increased debt, and bankruptcy, causing their children to face greater hardship as a result. While people with the means may be able to afford to receive care elsewhere, those struggling to make ends meet will have nowhere to turn, effectively trapped into having a state-sanctioned, forced pregnancy,” Dr. Brennan said.
