GOP lawmakers today began circulating legislation that would add exceptions for rape and incest to the state’s 1849 abortion ban.
Under the bill, those abortions would only be allowed during the first trimester of a pregnancy.
The bill also would clarify the existing exception for the life of the mother. It proposes allowing abortions when there is “a serious risk of death of the pregnant woman or of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the woman.”
The bill also would allow an abortion in which the fetus has no chance of survival outside the uterus and for an ectopic or a molar pregnancy.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said during a news conference this morning he was hopeful the bill would draw support from 50 members of his caucus to pass.
Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, said there currently weren’t 17 GOP votes in the Senate for the bill.
Backers would have to hit both marks without Dem support. Gov. Tony Evers has said he would veto a bill that would add such exceptions without fully repealing the 1849 ban.
Vos said the bill is unlikely to make it to the floor before the April 4 election.
Read the bill:
https://www.wispolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/230315Abortion.pdf