Abortion Politics

WPR is asking people what they care about as they head to the polls. Voters at an event in Madison said abortion and reproductive rights were among their top issues.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, it helped drive up Democratic turnout. This year, Democrats are again making it the centerpiece of their campaigns.

Democrat Kristin Lyerly is running as an outspoken advocate for abortion rights in her campaign for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District. But it’s unclear whether that issue will help Democrats in the Republican-leaning seat.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has accepted two high-profile abortion lawsuits, one asserting that the state Constitution protects a woman’s right to abortion and another challenging a pre-Civil War law that was for years thought to ban the procedure.

In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, Wisconsinites have seen abortion access disappear and return — all while courts have considered whether state law bans the procedure or the state constitution protects it.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appeared alongside Gov. Tony Evers at a panel focused on abortion access in Madison on Monday, a signal that the issue will be key to Democrats’ messaging in Midwestern battleground states.

Hovde said he doesn’t support passing a 15-week national abortion ban “because certain states may have more restrictions, certain states may have a more open view from a standpoint of giving a bit more time.”

If the Wisconsin Supreme Court agrees to hear a closely-watched abortion lawsuit, Attorney General Josh Kaul says he’ll ask for a ruling on whether a woman’s right to choose is protected by the state constitution.

Wisconsin Democrats also argued Hovde would limit women’s access to contraception and certain fertility treatments.

Republicans in the state Assembly approved a bill that would ask voters whether to restrict abortion in Wisconsin after 14 weeks.