Debate on abortion access turns to Wisconsin high court race
>> National groups on both sides of the abortion fight on Wednesday pledged significant spending in the race for a pivotal seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, tossing the perennial battleground state into the spotlight of the searing debate over abortion access.
The winner of the April 4 general election will determine majority control of the court, which is expected to rule on cases affecting abortion, gerrymandered legislative districts and voting rights heading into the 2024 presidential election. The court, with a 4-3 conservative tilt, came within one vote of overturning President Joe Biden's win in the state in 2020, and both major parties are preparing for another close margin in next year's presidential contest.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who campaigned as an abortion rights supporter and received the most votes in Tuesday's primary, wasted no time attacking her Republicanbacked opponent, Dan Kelly. Both are seeking to replace a retiring conservative justice.
Protasiewicz (pronounced Pro-tuh-SAY-witz) launched a pair of new television ads Wednesday, including one labeling Kelly an “extremist” because of his position on abortion. Kelly is endorsed by the state's three largest antiabortion groups, while Protasiewicz is endorsed by EMILY's List, which works nationwide to elect Democratic abortion rights supporters.
State and national Planned Parenthood political groups say they expect to spend in the seven figures, but would say only that their total would be more than $1 million to support Protasiewicz. Their strategy will include radio, TV and online advertising, plus direct mail. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin has hired staff across the state to support door-to-door and other campaign efforts.
Susan B. Anthony ProLife America, one of the most influential groups in the anti-abortion movement, said it had committed “six figures” to helping elect Kelly during the primary campaign through mailers, phone calls and text messages. The group said in a statement that it plans to continue supporting Kelly during the general election through its Women Speak Out campaign organization.
Protasiewicz told supporters at her victory party that if Kelly wins, he will vote to uphold Wisconsin's 1849 law banning abortions, a claim repeated in her new ad. The law, enacted a year after Wisconsin became a state, went back into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. A Democratic-backed lawsuit seeking to overturn the ban is expected to make its way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court this year or the next.
Kelly has expressed opposition to abortion in the past, including in a 2012 blog post in which he said the Democratic Party and the National Organization for Women were committed to normalizing the taking of human life. Kelly also has done legal work for Wisconsin Right to Life.
He has cited Protasiewicz's support for abortion rights as evidence that she's willing to rule based on “personal tastes and desires” rather than what the law dictates.
“It is just unbelievable that a judicial candidate would do that,” Kelly said Wednesday on WTMJ-AM radio. “But that's the fight. It really is to maintain the constitutional order in the state of Wisconsin, to make sure that we live under the rule of law and not the rule of Janet.”
Spending on the race is expected to to shatter the previous high for a state supreme court race, which was $15.2 million in Illinois in 2004.