Clinic on Milwaukee’s east side to reopen
The clinic on Milwaukee’s east side run by Affiliated Medical Services is slated to reopen next month, making it the latest clinic to resume abortions in Wisconsin.
The clinic, located at 1428 N. Farwell Ave., had been one of two abortion providers in Milwaukee until the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion established by the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Since then, the clinic has been mostly empty.
But now, the clinic is slated to reopen on March 5, following the lead of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin clinics that resumed abortions in the latter half of last year, according to Affiliated Medical Services’ website.
Immediately following the Dobbs decision, most abortions ended in Wisconsin, when a pre-Roe law interpreted as banning almost all abortions was believed to have gone back into effect.
But in September, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin resumed providing abortions at its Madison and Milwaukee clinics after a Dane County judge issued an order signaling she did not believe the pre-Roe law applied to abortions, but instead to feticide, or the killing of a fetus without the mother’s consent.
Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper issued her decision in December, finding that the law did not, in fact, apply to consensual abortions, when a pregnant woman voluntarily decides to end her pregnancy.
In recent days, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has been asked to weigh in and review Schlipper’s decision. If the court agrees to take that case, it’s likely it will side with the lower court’s ruling. The court now has a 4-3 liberal majority after Justice Janet Protasiewicz ran for a seat on the court with a campaign focused on restoring abortion access in Wisconsin.
The Affiliated Medical Services clinic had provided abortions on Milwaukee’s east side for decades, making it a wellknown site in the city where abortion rights and anti-abortion activists clashed almost daily as patients sought the procedure.
Following the Dobbs ruling, the clinic briefly stayed open to help women with ultrasounds and abortion aftercare. The clinic was also referring women who wanted the procedure to clinics in Minnesota and Illinois. But ultimately, the clinic closed.
In the meantime, the former CEO of Affiliated Medical Services opened a new clinic across the border in Illinois to serve women who could not get an abortion at the time in Wisconsin. The Rockford Family Planning Center, which opened last January, only provides medication abortions, not surgical ones. Medication abortion is only available up to 11 weeks into a pregnancy.
“It’s been healthy for us to have both Planned Parenthood, of whom I have been an ardent supporter, as well as a private practice clinic option for those who want it,” said Dr. Dennis Christensen, former CEO of Affiliated Medical Services.
Planned Parenthood has resumed abortions at clinics in Madison, Milwaukee and Sheboygan.