Frederica Freyberg:

Turning to our abortion series, the Wisconsin laws relating to abortion are unconstitutionally vague, according to three physician interveners, named in the complex lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s 1849 law on abortion. The lawsuit initially brought by state Attorney General Josh Kaul last year names three district attorneys as defendants because there were Planned Parenthood clinics performing abortions in their counties. They are Dane County DA Ismael Ozanne, Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm and Sheboygan County DA Joel Urmanski. Of the three, only Sheboygan County DA Urmanski has previously stated he would prosecute physicians in violation of the law. The lawsuit alleges the physicians fear criminal charges and thus have had to alter how care is provided to their patients. In court filings, DA Urmanski argues the lawsuit is an attempt to obtain from this court what the legislature has refused to do and also says, although the interveners raised concerns regarding how the 1849 law may apply to abortions they may need to perform as part of their care of pregnant patients, they cannot meet their burden of demonstrating that the 1849 law cannot constitutionally be applied to any abortion. One could, for example, apply the 1849 law to prohibit an elective abortion on a healthy mother of a 6- to 8-week-old unborn child without implicating any of the interveners’ concerns in their complaint. Neither DA Urmanski nor his attorney responded to our request for an interview.