After Roe Fell: U.S. Abortion Laws by State

Hostile

Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down the state’s 1849 pre-Roe ban. Abortion will likely remain accessible in Wisconsin, but without legal protection. Although the current governor is supportive of abortion rights, the legislature is hostile to abortion. The state retains numerous medically unnecessary restrictions, making it difficult to access abortion care in the state.

State Legal Details

Bans in Effect

  • Gestational Ban, 22-week LMP
  • Gestational Ban, Viability
  • Telemedicine Ban

Bans Enjoined

  • Method Ban
  • Pre-Roe Ban

Restrictions in Effect

  • Biased Counseling Requirement
  • Mandatory Ultrasound Requirement
  • Parental Involvement, Parental Consent Requirement
  • TRAP Requirements: Facilities, Facility Requirements
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Reporting Requirement
  • TRAP requirements: Providers, Transfer Agreement Requirement
  • Waiting Period Requirement

Restrictions

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Wisconsin Attorney General, the Department of Safety and Professional Services, and the Medical Examining Board filed a lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that the 1849 pre-Roe criminal abortion ban is unenforceable.1 In July 2023, the Dane County Circuit Court found that the statute in question prohibits feticide not abortion and allowed the challenge to continue.2 In July 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the pre-Roe ban, finding the ban to be superseded by subsequent legislation governing abortion care, including the state’s current twenty week ban.3

Wisconsin law generally prohibits abortion at twenty weeks post-fertilization and post-viability.4 The state has not repealed its unconstitutional ban on D&X procedures.5 Pregnant people who seek abortion care must undergo a mandatory twenty-four-hour waiting period, biased counseling, and an ultrasound.6 Wisconsin also limits public funding for,7 and private insurance coverage of, abortion.8 Wisconsin law generally requires that a parent, legal guardian, adult family member, foster parent,9 or judge9 consent to a minor’s abortion.

Wisconsin’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws include requirements related to facilities,11 permanently enjoined admitting privileges,12 transfer agreements,13 and reporting.14 Wisconsin law restricts the provision of abortion care to physicians and restricts providers from using telemedicine for the provision of abortion care.15 Providers who violate Wisconsin’s abortion restrictions may face civil and criminal penalties.16

State Protections

Wisconsin law does not include express constitutional or statutory protections for abortion, but it does include protections for clinic safety by prohibiting trespassing.17

Post-Roe Prohibitions

Wisconsin has a pre-Roe ban18 that has been interpreted to apply only to the crime of feticide,19 which the Wisconsin Attorney General and others are challenging as uneforceable.20

Conclusion

Now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, Wisconsin legislators will try to prohibit abortion. The current governor is supportive of abortion rights and, in July 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the state’s pre-Roe near-total ban was impliedly repealed following the enactment of subsequent comprehensive abortion legislation.21 As of this ruling, current law permits abortions performed prior to twenty weeks post-fertilization.4

  1. Kaul et al. v. Kapenga et al.,u00a0Caseu00a0No. 2022CV001594 (Wis. Cir. Ct. June 28, 2022) (complaint). ↩︎
  2. Kaul et al. v. Kapenga et al.,u00a0Caseu00a0No. 2022CV001594 (Wis. Cir. Ct., July 7, 2023) (order dismissing with prejudice the motion to dismiss). ↩︎
  3. Id., Wis. Stat. u00a7 253.107(3). ↩︎
  4. Wis. Stat. u00a7u00a7 253.107(3), 940.15. ↩︎
  5. Id. u00a7 940.16; see Hope Clinic v. Ryan, 249 F.3d 603, 606 (7th Cir. 2001). ↩︎
  6. WIS. STAT. u00a7 253.10. ↩︎
  7. Id. u00a7 20.927. ↩︎
  8. Id. u00a7 632.8985. ↩︎
  9. Id. u00a7 48.375. ↩︎
  10. Id. u00a7 48.375. ↩︎
  11. WIS. ADMIN. CODE MED. u00a7 11.04. ↩︎
  12. WIS. STAT. u00a7 253.095(2); Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, Inc. v. Schimel, 806 F.3d 908 (Nov. 23, 2015). ↩︎
  13. WIS. ADMIN. CODE MED. u00a7 11.04 ↩︎
  14. WIS. STAT. u00a7 69.186. ↩︎
  15. Id. u00a7u00a7 940.15(5), 253.105(2)(b), challenged by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Inc. v. Kaul, 384 F. Supp. 3d 982 (W.D. Wis. 2019), affu2019d 942 F.3d 793 (7th Cir. 2019). ↩︎
  16. See, e.g., Wis. Stat. u00a7u00a7 253.10,. 253.107(4). ↩︎
  17. WIS. STAT. u00a7 943.145. ↩︎
  18. Id. u00a7 940.04. ↩︎
  19. State v. Black, 188 Wis. 2d 639, 526 N.W.2d 132 (1994). ↩︎
  20. Kaul et al. v. Kapenga et al.,u00a0Caseu00a0No. 2022-CV-001594 (Wis. Cir. Ct. June 28, 2022) (complaint). ↩︎
  21. Kaul et al. v. Kapenga et al.,u00a0Caseu00a0No. 2022-CV-001594 (Wis. Cir. Ct. June 28, 2022) (citing WIS. STAT. u00a7u00a7 940.15(2)u2013(3); 253.107(2)u2013(3)). ↩︎
  22. Wis. Stat. u00a7u00a7 253.107(3), 940.15. ↩︎