The Wisconsin Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of Wisconsin’s bishops, expresses its deep sadness and incredulity at Dane County Judge Diane Schlipper’s December 5 ruling that §940.04, the state’s abortion ban, does not apply to consensual abortions.
In 1849, Wisconsin banned abortion. In 1853, it abolished the death penalty. Our state was truly ahead of its time in recognizing the value of every human life. Yesterday’s decision is not a step forward, but a real step backward for human rights.
As Pope Francis has written, “It is not ‘progressive’ to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life” (Evangelii Gaudium, 214). Every human being is unique, whole, and sacred. Every human being deserves the right to live.
According to the most recent figures, in 2021, 6,579 unborn children were aborted in Wisconsin. To understand the scale of abortion in our state, that is the equivalent of eliminating the population of a city the size of Lake Mills every year. Legal abortion is not health care. It is state-sanctioned violence.
