“We don't have a direct way to overrule what the Republican regime has done in the big, ugly bill,” Sen. Kelda Roys said. “We certainly can do everything we can in Wisconsin to make sure that the existing two independent clinics that provide abortion services are able to see as many patients as they possibly can." (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin paused abortion services Wednesday at its Madison, Milwaukee and Sheboygan locations due to the megabill signed by President Donald Trump in July. The law — officially titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act — included a provision that would take away federal funding from the organization if it continues providing abortion services. 

The organization announced the pause last week, saying that it was looking to see as many patients as possible before the Oct. 1 deadline. Wisconsin is the first state in the country where Planned Parenthood has taken this step in response to the federal law. 

In reaction, Democratic lawmakers called Wednesday morning for the state to reverse other restrictions on the books to help increase accessibility to the remaining independent abortion providers in the state.

“We’re sounding the alarm, but we’re also saying we can do something about this,” Rep. Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) said at a press conference. “We know that this is going to be a legal battle, and there will be other means by which Planned Parenthoods are fighting this change, but in the meantime, we cannot let Republicans block access for Wisconsin women to the care that they need.” 

This is the second time that Planned Parenthood is halting abortion services in Wisconsin since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, ending federally protected abortion rights. The group stopped providing abortions from June 2022 until September 2023, when a Dane County court held that a 19th century state statute did not ban abortions. The Wisconsin Supreme Court also ruled in July that the same 19th century law was invalid and unenforceable and had effectively been repealed by other laws passed after it. 

Planned Parenthood’s decision to pause services again leaves just two independent clinics that provide abortion care in Milwaukee. Abortion providers in neighboring Illinois have declared that they are prepared to provide services for Wisconsin women.

“We know that people in Wisconsin can go to other states that do not have these restrictions to access abortion care, but we think that that’s unacceptable, and that no matter who you are or where you’re from you deserve the freedom to get the health care that you need here in Wisconsin,” Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said at the press conference.

The public health department for Madison and Dane County offered to help patients in need of services navigate their limited options. 

“Losing Planned Parenthood clinics as an option for abortion care means the full spectrum of reproductive health care will become very difficult to access in Wisconsin,” said Public Health Supervisor Sarah Hughes. “We know this changing landscape can be confusing and overwhelming, that’s why our Nurse Navigators are standing by to help people understand all options around pregnancy and reproductive health care.”

Planned Parenthood has been able to use federal funds via Medicaid payments and Title X, a federally funded family planning program, to help provide services other than abortion care, including contraceptives, STI testing, pregnancy testing, and gynecological services to low-income and uninsured individuals. The Hyde Amendment has barred federal money from being used to fund abortion care across the country for decades. 

The new federal law puts the other services that Planned Parenthood offers at risk by barring Medicaid payments for one year for organizations that received more than $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in fiscal year 2023 and primarily engage in family planning services and reproductive health and provide abortions.

“This was targeted directly at Planned Parenthood,” Subeck said. 

“Let me be clear, Republicans in the federal and state governments will stop at nothing short of a full abortion ban,” she added.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member organizations in Massachusetts and Utah filed a legal challenge in July, but an injunction that was blocking the law from taking effect was lifted in September.

Attorney General Josh Kaul has also joined with other state attorneys general on a legal motion that argues the provision “impermissibly and unconstitutionally targets Planned Parenthood health centers for their advocacy and their exercise of associational rights” and also that “Congress ran afoul of limits on its spending power” because of its ambiguity. It argues the provision “fails to adequately define the scope of providers who qualify as “prohibited entities”; fails to provide clear notice of the timing of its implementation; and constitutes a change that [states] could not have anticipated when joining Medicaid.” 

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has said that ongoing litigation could change what the organization is allowed to do and that it  will continue to monitor the legal landscape and will be prepared to act the moment it is able to resume care.

Roys and Subeck introduced legislation Wednesday to help the last two clinics in Milwaukee take in patients. 

The Democratic bill would repeal several of the other restrictions on the books in Wisconsin, including a requirement that patients attend two appointments with the same physician 24 hours apart before receiving care, requirements that a patient have a physical exam and that a physician be physically present when medication is taken, and a requirement for an ultrasound. It would expand the number of providers allowed to provide abortion care from just physicians to physician assistants, nurse practitioners and advanced practice registered nurses. 

The lawmakers said the bill would help the two independent Milwaukee clinics — Care for All Community Clinic and Affiliated Medical Services — reach as many patients as possible while Planned Parenthood no longer offers services by removing barriers to providing access. 

“We don’t have a direct way to overrule what the Republican regime has done in the big, ugly bill,” Roys said. “We certainly can do everything we can in Wisconsin to make sure that the existing two independent clinics that provide abortion services are able to see as many patients as they possibly can and try to absorb some of the loss of service [provided by] Planned Parenthood, and open the door to make sure that patients in Wisconsin don’t suffer access restrictions that patients in other states don’t have to suffer.” 

Roys said the purpose of the restrictions “has always been to make abortion as onerous and as difficult for people to access as possible. It has nothing to reduce the need for abortion.” By lifting the restrictions, she said, the bill could help “increase abortion access, despite the federal backdoor abortion ban.”

However, in a Republican-led Legislature, the bill is unlikely to move ahead.

Conservative groups and some Republican lawmakers celebrated the news of the pause in abortion services last week. Rep. Joy Goeben (R-Hobart) called the pause in services at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin a “hopeful moment” in a statement last week.

“Every heartbeat silenced by abortion was a life full of possibility,” Goeben said. “This pause means more of those lives may now have a chance.”

Goeben and 11 of her Republican colleagues recently introduced a bill that seeks to narrow the definition of  abortion in Wisconsin. According to a bill summary, it would amend the definition of abortion to make an exception for “physician’s performance of a medical procedure or treatment designed or intended to prevent the death of a pregnant woman and not designed or intended to kill the unborn child, including an early induction or cesarean section performed due to a medical emergency or the removal of a dead embryo or dead fetus, or an ectopic, anembryonic, or molar pregnancy, which results in injury to or death of the woman’s unborn child when the physician makes reasonable medical efforts under the circumstances to preserve both the life of the woman and the life of her unborn child according to reasonable medical judgment and appropriate interventions for the gestational age of the child.” 

“Democrats should be lining up to sign on to this bill,” Goeben said in a statement about the bill. “This is what liberals have been shouting about from the rooftops for decades. However, they continue to perpetuate the notion women are not going to get the care they need in a heart wrenching emergency situation.”

Physicians, Democratic lawmakers and others have spoken to concerns since the overturn of Roe v. Wade that restrictive state laws governing abortion would result in women not receiving adequate medical care, even when there is an emergency. ProPublica has reported on the preventable deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, both of whom were denied timely care due to confusion created by Georgia’s six-week abortion ban. It has also reported on two women in Texas, Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain, who died under the state’s restrictive abortion ban after care was delayed for their miscarriages.

Roys said the bill is an example of Republicans trying to distance themselves from the impact of restrictive abortion policies. 

“Republicans know that their abortion bans hurt women, and they kill women, and Americans are horrified to see women being arrested and jailed instead of taken to the hospital for treatment when they have a miscarriage. They are horrified to see pregnant people turned away from emergency rooms so that they can bleed out and almost die in Walmart parking lots… and now Republicans are desperately searching for a way to distance themselves from the terrible effects of the laws that they passed. And [to] simply say if you need to end your pregnancy, we’re going to call it something different than abortion is nonsense.” 

Roys said the bill is “pernicious” because it would essentially tell providers to provide a C-section or induce labor rather than provide an abortion. Those procedures, she said, are “much more difficult, painful, and risky and invasive than doing an abortion.” 

“It affects a woman’s future ability to birth and be pregnant the way that she wants to be, and it is incredibly cruel,” Roys said.

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Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will stop scheduling patients for abortions starting next week as it works to find a way to provide the service in the face of Medicaid funding cuts in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, the nonprofit said Thursday.

Abortion funding across the U.S. has been under siege, particularly Planned Parenthood affiliates, which are the biggest provider. Wisconsin appears to be the first state where Planned Parenthood is pausing abortions because of the new law.

The organization warned earlier this year that about half its clinics that provide abortion could be closed as a result of a ban on Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood for services other than abortion.

The measure was part of the tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed in July. Initially, a judge said reimbursements must continue, but a federal appeals court this month said the government could halt the payments while a court challenge to the provision moves ahead.

Planned Parenthood services include cancer screenings and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment. Federal Medicaid money was already not paying for abortion, but affiliates relied on Medicaid to stay afloat.

The remaining Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana – where abortion is banned – are scheduled to shut down at the end of this month.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin said in a statement that it is trying to see as many patients as possible between now and Tuesday. The federal law takes effect Wednesday. It is not scheduling patients beyond that date, and the organization believes the move will allow it to continue seeing other Medicaid patients. The organization said it was working with providers across the state to make sure patients are referred quickly and receive timely care.

It is also considering taking legal action, the group said.

“Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will continue to provide the full spectrum of reproductive health care, including abortion, as soon and as we are able to,” Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin President and CEO Tanya Atkinson said in the statement. “In the meantime, we are pursuing every available option through the courts, through operations, and civic engagement.”

The abortion landscape has been shifting frequently since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 that allowed states to ban abortion. Currently, 12 states do not allow it at any stage of pregnancy, with limited exceptions, and four more ban it after about six weeks’ gestation.

The bans have resulted in more women traveling for abortion and an increased reliance on abortion pills. Prescribers in states where they’re allowed have been shipping the pills to places where abortion is banned, a practice that is facing some legal challenges and is expected to attract more.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court in July struck down the state’s 1849 near-total ban on abortion, saying it was superseded by newer state laws regulating the procedure. The same day it ruled in that case, the court dismissed a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin asking it to find the law unconstitutional.

Wisconsin’s abortion ban was in effect until 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide nullified it. Legislators never officially repealed it, however, and conservatives argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe reactivated it.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin stopped providing abortions after that ruling for 15 months before resuming them as the lawsuit over the state law played out. It has been providing abortions at three clinics in Wisconsin for the past two years.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin serves about 50,000 people across the state. About 60% of them are covered by Medicaid, the organization said.

The federal Hyde Amendment already restricts government funding for most abortions, and less than 5% of the services Planned Parenthood provides are abortions, according to the organization’s 2023 annual report.

Planned Parenthood provides a wide range of services besides abortion. Its most recent annual report shows that contraceptive services and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections make up the vast majority of its medical care. It performs more cancer screening and prevention procedures than abortions, according to the report.

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Associated Press reporter Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup. This story is published in partnership with The Associated Press.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to pause abortions amid federal Medicaid funding cut is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A Planned Parenthood Clinic in downtown Milwaukee. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will once again pause abortion services at its clinics next week after an injunction that blocked portions of President Donald Trump’s megabill was lifted.

Three Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin clinics in Madison, Milwaukee and Sheboygan currently offer abortion services and are together the largest provider for abortion services in the state. 

The temporary pause in services will take effect on Oct. 1. Until then, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin says that it is working to see as many patients as possible and continuing to monitor the legal landscape. 

“Our commitment is unwavering: Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will continue to provide the full spectrum of reproductive health care — including abortion — as soon and as we are able to,” Tanya Atkinson, president of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin said in a statement. “In the meantime, we are pursuing every available option — through the courts, through operations, and civic engagement.” 

“To the patients who count on us: we are here for you. To our staff and supporters: thank you for standing with us. We remain dedicated to care — no matter what,” Atkinson said. 

The organization is halting services due the federal tax cut and spending megabill — officially titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act — signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year. 

Federal funds have been prohibited from being used to pay for most abortion care for nearly five decades under the Hyde Amendment. However, Planned Parenthood has been able to use federal funds via Medicaid payments and Title X, a federally funded family planning program, to help provide services other than abortion care, including contraceptive care, STI testing, pregnancy testing, and gynecological services to low-income and uninsured individuals. 

The new law includes a provision, which is set to expire July 4, 2026, that bars Medicaid payments for one year for organizations that received more than $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in fiscal year 2023 and primarily engage in family planning services and reproductive health and provide abortions. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin noted that the law was crafted specifically to penalize Planned Parenthood and its patients.

The law is being challenged in court, but an injunction that was blocking the law from taking effect was lifted earlier this month by the First District Court of Appeals.

According to the UW-Madison’s Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE), after October 1, clinic-based abortion care in Wisconsin will only be available at two independent clinics in Milwaukee.

“Effectively, 99% of Wisconsin counties now lack clinic-based abortion care,” the organization said in an email.

This is the second time that abortion services will disappear from the state since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

After the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision, abortion care in Wisconsin halted for about 15 months from June 2022 until September 2023, when Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin determined it had enough legal standing to resume. 

Abortion had been halted in Wisconsin due to a criminal law enacted in 1849, but that was ruled invalid and unenforceable by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in July. The Court found in its 4-3 decision that the law had effectively been repealed by other laws passed after it. 

A coalition of Illinois abortion providers and advocates said at a press conference in Chicago Thursday morning that they were prepared to take Wisconsin residents who need abortion services. 

Dr. Allison Cowett, an OB-GYN and chief medical officer for Family Planning Associates, which is the largest independent abortion provider in Illinois, said the agency saw a significant jump in patients the last time abortion services were restricted in Wisconsin.

“Before Dobbs, less than 3% of our patients traveled to Illinois from Wisconsin for an abortion. When Wisconsin’s 1849 trigger ban went into effect, that number jumped to 9%,” Cowett said. “One in every 12 patients we cared for here in this building came from Wisconsin. After 15 months of that ban, abortion services in Wisconsin were restored, and that number dropped in half.”

She expects the previous increase to be repeated.  

“With the sharp reduction in abortion access expected in Wisconsin in less than a week, we anticipate a large influx of patients, once again, forced to travel to Illinois for this basic health care,” Cowett said.

Megan Jeyifo, executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund, said the pause in services amounts to a ban and Illinois is prepared to once again take in patients. 

“Illinois is ready. Our constellation of care, which includes providers, funds, advocates, and our incredible elected officials will not leave people stranded,” Jeyifo said. “We will not abandon people when they need us. We will be here with open arms to support the needs of our neighbors. Abortion is not just a procedure or a few pills. Abortion gives women and girls and trans and non-binary people control of our lives, our families and our futures.”

Wisconsin Democrats were critical of Trump’s law for how it is affecting access and recommended that people continue to reach out to Planned Parenthood if they need care.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) told reporters after a discussion with people affected by Trump administration changes to the Affordable Care Act in Mount Horeb that Planned Parenthood’s announcement is just one of the health care impacts from Trump’s “big, ugly bill.”

“Planned Parenthood does incredible things for people’s health, cancer screenings, wellness checkups, full range of reproductive care, and this is obviously already having impacts on the type of care that Wisconsinites will be able to receive, and it’s a tragic result,” Baldwin said. 

State Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and state Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) said in a joint statement that “the Trump administration and Republican extremists are focused on targeting access to reproductive health care.” 

“Planned Parenthood’s announcement that it is pausing abortion services is the latest example of the devastating effects of Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill. Wisconsinites will continue to have their lives upended and their wellbeing threatened by that piece of legislation,” the lawmakers said. “It is important to note that abortion is and remains legal in the State of Wisconsin. Those who need that health care should continue to contact Planned Parenthood for help in finding access to those services or reach out to other providers who offer abortion services.”

Wisconsin Right to Life, an anti-abortion advocacy organization, celebrated the pause in services in a statement. 

“Taxpayer dollars should never fund the taking of innocent preborn lives,” Executive Director Heather Weininger said, claiming that Planned Parenthood has “long centered its operations around abortion services, and this announcement only confirms that reality.” 

According to Planned Parenthood’s annual report from 2022-23, abortion services accounted for  4% of all the health services the organization provided.

“Women and girls facing difficult or unexpected pregnancies deserve compassion, real support, and life-affirming care — and that’s exactly what the pro-life movement is committed to providing,” Weininger said.

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Aborted fetal cells are not used to manufacture the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine today, though the original rubella vaccine was made using human fetal embryo fibroblast cells obtained from two elective abortions in the 1960s.

The rubella vaccine is one of many vaccines that use the cell lines from those aborted fetuses, meaning they descend from the original fetal cells, but are not taken directly from new fetal tissue. These cells were chosen because the womb’s sterile environment does not contain the viruses often found in animal cells.

During the manufacturing of the MMR vaccine, the vaccine virus is purified and cellular debris and growth reagents are removed, breaking down trace DNA until there is none or almost none left.

Most of the major world religions that oppose abortion, including the Roman Catholic Church, have deemed vaccines permissible to prioritize the health of pregnant women, children and the wider population.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

• Medical History Pictures: Stanley Plotkin: Pioneering the use of fetal cells to make rubella vaccine
• The College of Physicians of Philadelphia: How are vaccines made? Human cell strains in vaccine development
• American Academy of Pediatrics: Fact Checked: Vaccines do not contain fetal cells, thimerosal
• Johns Hopkins Institute for Vaccine Safety: Religion and vaccines
• Immunize.org: Religious Concerns: Resources & Information
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: Vaccine Ingredients: Fetal Cells
• PBS News: Anti-abortion faith leaders support use of COVID-19 vaccines

Are aborted fetal cells used to make the MMR vaccine? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.