A Dane County judge on Tuesday ruled that a 174-year-old law thought to prohibit abortion in Wisconsin does not, in fact, do so.
“The Court declares Wis. Stat. § 940.04 does not prohibit abortions,” wrote Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper.
Schlipper ruled that the law in question, a statute written in 1849, does not apply to abortions but to feticide.
A consensual abortion is sought out by a pregnant woman who voluntarily determines to end a pregnancy. Schlipper’s ruling is based on a 1994 state Supreme Court decision that determined feticide is a nonconsensual act in which somebody batters a woman to the point she loses the pregnancy.
