Note: This post has been edited to reflect the latest status of care availability.
On October 27, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin resumed providing abortion care at its clinics. That announcement followed a nearly monthlong pause in abortion care by the organization as it navigated the current legal landscape.
Abortion remains legal in Wisconsin, but recently enacted federal legislation excludes Medicaid coverage for family planning clinics providing abortion care, such as Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin previously paused scheduling abortion appointments beginning October 1 as it adapted to the law. The organization plans to resume providing abortions by relinquishing its federal Essential Community Provider status.
Three Planned Parenthood clinics in Madison, Milwaukee, and Sheboygan provide abortion care.
For almost a month in October, clinic-based abortion care in Wisconsin was only available at two independent clinics in Milwaukee. Effectively, 99% of Wisconsin counties lacked clinic-based abortion care. (Up-to-date information about the availability of abortion in Wisconsin and neighboring states can be found here.)
When a healthcare system must choose between offering abortion care and receiving reimbursement for other critical healthcare services, patients suffer. Leading professional health organizations, including the American Medical Association, American Public Health Association, and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, maintain that abortion access is a critical component of healthcare, health, and wellbeing.
Research underscores the negative consequences of restricted access to abortion for Wisconsinites who need this essential healthcare.
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- Evidence shows that the post-Dobbs stoppage of abortion services forced Wisconsinites to travel out of state for care, order pills online, or, in some cases, remain pregnant against their will.
- Prior CORE research documents an increase in births in parts of Wisconsin that lost the most access to abortion care following clinic closures.
- A large body of evidence demonstrates that a lack of access to abortion care has grave impacts for individuals, families, and communities. Emerging research also suggests harms to the ob-gyn workforce and trainees in Wisconsin.
CORE will continue to monitor how federal and state policy changes affect reproductive healthcare access in Wisconsin.