A new bill has passed the Wisconsin assembly that would protect preborn children from abortion after 14 weeks gestation, but the governor has already vowed to veto it.
Assembly Bill 975 was narrowly approved in a 53-46 vote; some Republicans refused to vote in its favor because they felt 14 weeks was too late in the pregnancy. Rep. Amanda Nedweski said she expected Gov. Tony Evers to veto the bill from the beginning, but wanted to put the issue in the minds of voters, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
“A referendum puts the power back in the hands of the people where it belongs,” she said. The bill would require the issue be put on the April ballot, where voters would decide if preborn children should be protected after 20 weeks gestation, which is current Wisconsin law, or lower the cutoff to 14 weeks.
READ: Chicago abortion business with history of injuries sends another woman to hospital
“I support this bill because I believe that the people should decide without having to be put in one bucket or the other,” Rep. Angie Sapik, who said she supports abortion in some circumstances, said. “Put the referendum directly to the people without allegiance to their political party, and let’s see how many people are actually standing in the mud with me.”
Evers gave his State of the State address the same week, where he said he would make over-the-counter contraceptives free to Wisconsinites who receive public health insurance. He also promised to veto any bill that limits abortion — something he further reiterated on Twitter.
“The people of Wisconsin have already made themselves clear on this issue, and so have I,” he wrote. “I promised to veto any bill that takes away Wisconsinites’ reproductive freedom or makes reproductive healthcare any less accessible than it is today. I’ll keep that promise.”
Wisconsin has already been fighting a legal battle over an 1849 law that took effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022; Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled in December that the statute refers to feticide — an act of homicide against a fetus committed by someone other than the child’s mother — but not abortion, and blocked the law.
The bill now needs to pass the Wisconsin Senate before heading to Evers’ desk.
