02-07-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Wisconsin's Abortion Settlement
The Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in 2022 reopened partisan warfare over abortion, but it is settling down to a rough political compromise in most states. A case in point is Wisconsin, where a state Supreme Court decision this week reveals the settlement terms.
In a 4-3 decision in Kaul v. Urmanski, the court's liberal majority finally overturned an 1849 ban on abortion that was still on the books even though it hasn't been enforced. Justice Rebecca Dallet wrote that 'comprehensive legislation enacted over the last 50 years regulating in detail the 'who, what, where, when, and how' of abortion so thoroughly covers the entire subject of abortion that it was meant as a substitute for the 19th century near-total ban on abortion.'
