Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul addresses the media at the state Department of Justice headquarters in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Todd Richmond)

On Wednesday morning, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s 1849 abortion ban in a 4-3 partisan vote, legalizing abortion the state.

The four liberal justices wrote in their opinion that a newer law that Republicans passed in 1985 superseded the 176-year-old law after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision in 2022. That 1985 law keeps abortion legal up until viability.

This decision had been anticipated even before Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) filed a lawsuit last year; two state Supreme Court races made reproductive rights a cornerstone debate topic. The decision led to numerous varied reactions, both from state Democrats and Republicans.

Tony Evers

Gov. Tony Evers (D) applauded the decision, saying it helped “ensure Wisconsin women today are not forced to face firsthand what it’s like to live in a state that bans nearly all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.”

Evers has been one of the main pro-abortion forces in the state by way of vetoing the numerous anti-abortion bills that come from the Republican-dominated legislature. He personally tried to convince the legislature by calling multiple special sessions to repeal it; Republican leadership gaveled in and out every time.

He also credited his endorsement of reproductive rights as part of the reason he won reelection in 2022 over anti-abortion Republican Tim Michels.

Josh Kaul

Kaul, who first filed the lawsuit last year, called the decision “a significant victory for the freedom of Wisconsinites” during a press conference Wednesday morning.

While he called the ruling an “incredibly positive first step,” he challenged the legislature to pass bills that protect reproductive rights so a case concerning the legality of a 176-year-old law wouldn’t happen again.

Greta Neubauer

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) applauded the decision in an X post shortly before session Wednesday morning.

“Today the WI Supreme Court ruled in favor of our freedom to make our own decisions about our bodies,” she wrote. “Thank you to everyone who kept up the fight for reproductive rights in the darkest days. This win is yours.”

A representative since 2018 and minority leader since 2022, Neubauer has regularly advocated for both reproductive rights and protecting doctors that provide reproductive care.

Lisa Subeck

Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Lisa Subeck praised the decision in a press release, but she also called for the legislature to now pass the Abortion Rights Restoration Act (ARRA), a bill she co-authored with Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) that would codify the right to reproductive access into law.

“Now that the courts have made it clear that Wisconsin does not have a total abortion ban, we must go further,” she said. “It’s time to protect reproductive rights not just in practice, but in law. We must pass the Abortion Rights Restoration Act to guarantee the right to abortion and eliminate the medically unjustified, politically motivated restrictions that still exist in our state statutes. The people of Wisconsin deserve nothing less than full access to safe and legal reproductive health care without unnecessary barriers and free from judgement.”

Kelda Roys

In a press release, Roys, co-author of ARRA, celebrated the decision as one step towards a “more perfect union where every Wisconsinite has the freedom to get the health care they need without intervention from politicians.”

An advocate for child care and frequent critic of the GOP’s cuts to the child care industry, she called out anti-abortion Republicans in 2023 for their neglect.

“I don’t know how you can call yourself pro-life when you devalue the people that nurture life,” she said.

Devin LeMahieu

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) said in a press release that the court “ignored” the duty to interpret laws and “instead took this opportunity to deliver on their political campaign promises.”

“The sanctity of life was trampled on today by the liberal majority of the Supreme Court,” LeMahieu continued.

When Evers called for special sessions to repeal the 1849 law, it was LeMahieu as then-Senate president that quickly gaveled the sessions in and out.

Barbara Dittrich

Rep. Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) said the “extreme leftist majority” on the court overturned what she called “standing law.”

“Unfortunately, this ruling leaves Wisconsin with open season on unborn children,” she wrote in a press release.

A representative since 2019, she has been clear on her “overt” anti-abortion stance, first voting in 2023 to implement the 1849 ban and then co-sponsoring a 14-week ban bill the next year. In recent years, Dittrich has questioned if exceptions for rape and incest are “rational” despite being “popular,” and she publicly insulted a medical student while she spoke in opposition to her 14-week ban bill.

Ron Tusler

In a video posted to Facebook, Rep. Ron Tusler (R-Harrison) said the “new activist Supreme Court” could not be trusted as a result of the ruling. He said he thought the court would keep the 176-year-old law and was “really disappointed” when it struck the law down.

Last year, during floor debate on the 14-week ban bill, Tusler went viral for seemingly speaking against exceptions for the health and life of the mother. He used the Biblical story of John the Baptist being born from an 88-year-old mother as an example.

Amanda Nedweski

Rep. Amanda Nedweski (R-Pleasant Prairie) praised her colleagues on Facebook Wednesday morning for fighting against “the extremist state Supreme Court moves us closer to abortion up until and beyond birth.”

During floor debate on the 14-week ban bill, Nedweski said if a woman has an unwanted pregnancy outside of rape and incest, it’s her fault.

“Most women are not forced to get pregnant,” she said. “If a woman doesn’t want to become pregnant, there are choices involved in that.”

Chuck Wichgers

In a press release after the court released the decision, Rep. Chuck Wichgers (R-Muskego) falsely claimed the court ruled the 1849 abortion ban wasn’t an abortion ban (it ruled that newer laws on allowing abortion until viability take precedent). He also claimed that the court took away personhood from fetuses and embryos.

“Both slavery and abortion can be allowed when personhood is denied to a human being,” he said.

In 2023, Wichgers went viral multiple times over bizarre, extreme statements. In May 2023, he said at a Christian nationalist rally in front of the Capitol that “when it comes to this building, there’s demons in those walls.” The next month, he spoke against access to contraception on the Assembly floor by baselessly claiming it leads to infidelity, men devaluing women, some women thinking they’re better than nature and the “proliferation of STDs,” among other things.