SB343 would provide that “abortion” under state law “does not include a physician’s performance medical procedures or treatments designed or intended to prevent the death of a pregnant woman and not designed or intended to kill the unborn child. ”
The Senate passed SB343 on October 17, 2023, by a vote of 22 to 10. We have assigned pluses to the ayes because this bill would bring clarity to Wisconsin law and reinforce the state’s 1849 abortion ban by ensuring that a physician may legally perform life-saving emergency medical procedures on a pregnant woman (e.g., removal of a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy) when reasonable efforts are made to preserve both the life of the woman and her unborn child. Given that the care of human life—not its destruction—is the greatest responsibility of government, Wisconsin should act to secure the right to life for preborn children and their mothers. The right to life is the most fundamental, God-given, and unalienable right asserted in the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.