(Photo via Stacey for Wisconsin on Facebook)

Stacey Klein, the lone Republican running for the Wisconsin state Senate in District 32, has published several articles asserting her anti-abortion stance, including evident support for the state’s near-total abortion ban from 1849.

In an article on her campaign website that criticizes U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D), titled “A Tale of Two Tammys,” Klein appeared to defend a controversial abortion ban written from 1849 while criticizing then-newly elected state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz.

“This [Baldwin’s] Tweet comes mere weeks after her comrade Justice Janet Protasiewicz was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court after openly campaigning on cases that were certain to come before Wisconsin’s high court. She had already decided on Wisconsin abortion law that is as old as the State itself,” Klein wrote.

This 1849 law briefly went into effect after the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The 175-year-old piece of legislation made it a felony for anyone other than the mother of a baby to “destroy the life of an unborn child,” effectively halting the medical procedure.

In other articles on her website, Klein also downplayed the importance of rape and incest exceptions for abortion laws, saying “less than 5% of all abortions are because of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life.” She also accused Democrats of being hyperbolic and misleading before asserting that America has “lost 65 million babies” since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.

Klein also contends that abortion access does not qualify as women’s health care and that Baldwin is on an “anti-family crusade that begins with the womb.” Klein directed many of her articles to Baldwin as she was running for U.S. Senate at the time (Klein dropped out of the race in April to run for the state Senate instead.)

In addition to her articles, Klein attended a fundraising event last November in support of the Care Net Pregnancy Center, a Christian organization that completely opposes abortion and urges women considering the procedure to “find abundant life in Christ,” according to its website. Per reports from TIME Magazine and The Hill, organizations like Care Net present themselves as medical facilities while providing misinformation about abortion.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) attempted to persuade the Republican-controlled legislature to amend the 1849 abortion ban to no avail, with the GOP gaveling in and out of a special session called by the governor in June 2022 in mere seconds. Republicans were content with leaving the 1849 law on the books until Planned Parenthood challenged the law in court. A year later, a Dane County judge ruled that the 1849 law applies to abortion, prompting abortion providers to resume their services in the state last September.

Before concluding their 2024 session, Republicans in the state legislature attempted to put a referendum in front of voters that would ask whether abortion access should decrease to 14 weeks after gestation from the current 22-week threshold. While arguing in favor of the bill, state Rep. Joel Kitchens (R-Sturgeon Bay) contended that he knew better than anyone in the room on the matter of abortion because he used to be a veterinarian.

The bill passed the Assembly mostly on party lines by a vote of 53-46, despite Evers vowing to veto it.

The secretary for the Trempealeau County Republican Party, Klein is vying for the seat currently held by incumbent state Sen. Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska), who is also running unopposed in the Democratic primary on Aug. 13.