Wisconsin Bill to Repeal Old State Abortion Ban Dies With End of Session 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 10, 2008
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) — A Wisconsin bill that would take the state’s pre-Roe abortion ban off the books is now dead with the state legislature adjourning. State pro-life advocates worked overtime to keep the law on the books so abortions would be illegal if Roe falls but also had to counter misstatements from abortion advocates.
The Senate Committee on Health, Human Services, Insurance and Job Creation held a hearing in March on the legislation but the bill never made it further.
"The 2007-08 state legislative session is over and Wisconsin’s abortion ban (s.940.04) is still on the law books," Wisconsin Right to Life told LifeNews.com Thursday.
"In spite of massive efforts by pro-abortion forces and their allies in the legislature, we prevailed," WRTL said.
Pro-abortion and middle-of-the-road legislators were scared to death to take a vote on whether 940.04 should be repealed, the group explained.
WRTL said an outpouring of support — including 500 pro-life advocates heading to the state capital to lobby for the measure — helped keep the drive for the legislation at bay.
"And in the end, it was those pro-abortion and middle-of-the-road legislators who decided it was not in their political interest to be on record as voting to repeal," the ban.
WRTL director Barb Lyons told LifeNews.com during the debate that abortion advocates were making false claims that it would put women in jail.
Lyons said the legislature approved a modification of the law in 1985 which prevents jailing women who have abortions and, in so many cases, are second victims themselves.
“Wisconsin Right to Life and Wisconsin law itself consider women in these situations to be victims and not criminals,” said Lyons.
Both NARAL and Planned Parenthood have made statements saying the abortion ban would be used to put women in jail when it actually targets abortion practitioners.
NARAL’s Wisconsin affiliate put out a press release claiming that the abortion ban on the books "could be used to threaten women with up to 3-1/2 years in prison and fines up to $10,000."
“It is unconscionable for pro-abortion organizations to continue to perpetuate the lie that women will go to prison, or be penalized in any way, if they obtain abortions under Wisconsin law," Lyons commented.
Lyons also talked about the impact the law has and why it needs to remain in place.
“Wisconsin ’s abortion ban, s. 940.04, is the most important thing we have to protect unborn children in Wisconsin," WRTL director Barb Lyons told LifeNews.com.
"On the day Roe v. Wade is finally gone, Wisconsin will be one of the first states in the nation to shut down its abortion clinics," Lyons explained. "That is, as long as our abortion ban stays on the books.”
Related web sites:
Wisconsin Right to Life – https://www.wrtl.org
