Abortion rights denied in Wisconsin
By Sue Davis
Since May 14 most women in Wisconsin have been
barred from exercising their right to have an abortion. This
was the first time in the 25 years since the Supreme Court
legalized abortion that women have systematically been denied
access to this type of medical care in the United States.
All six Wisconsin abortion clinics closed rather than
subject doctors to the threat of mandatory life imprisonment,
after a stiff new state law went into effect that day. The law,
meant to stop doctors from performing a very rare type of
late-term abortion, is so broadly worded that Wisconsin doctors
feared prosecution.
"This really could cover any abortion," Dr. Dennis
Christensen of the Madison Abortion Clinic told the New York
Times.
An appeal to block the law outlawing late-term abortions was
denied on May 19 by a federal three-judge panel in Chicago. The
law stands until a hearing is held June 10. In the meantime
some clinics have reopened, but not all. Planned Parenthood
will open Friday in Milwaukee and May 27 in Appleton. Wisconsin
Attorney General Jim Doyle has said he will not prosecute for
early abortions.
In campaigning for the law, right-wing groups gave the
impression it was aimed against what they term "partial-birth
abortions." But the Wisconsin experience confirms what women's
rights and pro-choice organizations have said all along. This
type of legislation is meant to eliminate choice altogether and
send women back to the days when abortion was illegal.
After pressure from the choice movement, on May 16 Milwaukee
District Attorney McCann issued a statement informing doctors
he would not prosecute them for performing first-trimester
abortions-those during the first three months of pregnancy. The
state then followed suit.
Attorney Bonnie Scott Jones of the Center for Reproductive
Law and Policy says this is not enough. She is pursuing an
emergency injunction in federal court to stop implementation of
the law.
She has advised her clients-all the clinic doctors and
Planned Parenthood-that McCann's statement does not address
possible civil suits.
One Milwaukee clinic bravely reopened on May 18.
What about women who want an abortion but don't have ready
access to medical care-particularly poor, young, rural women?
What if they go past the three-month deadline? Either they will
have to find a way to go to another state or they will be
forced to bear a child against their wishes.
Both are direct violations of their reproductive rights.
What happened in Wisconsin could very well happen in other
states. Over the past three years 28 states have passed bans
very much like the Wisconsin law, though injunctions in many
states have stopped immediate implementation. Anti-abortion
forces are continuing to push for bans in other states.
On the federal level President Bill Clinton has twice vetoed
a similar law. Another test of his veto is expected later this
year.
"Wisconsin is a preview of what will happen everywhere in
the country if the president's veto of the 'partial-birth' ban
gets overridden," said Rep. Nita M. Lowy of New York. "This
whole 'partial-birth' thing is an effort to stop all abortions,
as has now happened in Wisconsin."
But other targets of the right wing-people on welfare,
undocumented workers, gays in the military-have seen Clinton
cave in after pressure campaigns. If the Clinton veto were all
the choice movement had going for it, the future would be
bleak.
A broad-based, united, multinational movement can
successfully defend the gains women have won. Wisconsin is a
wake-up call: It's time to once again be marching in the
streets.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME
:: U.S. NEWS ::
WORLD NEWS ::
EDITORIALS ::
SUBSCRIBE ::
DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page