Signs at a pro-life rally outside of the Republican National Convention in 2024. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner.)

The Republican author of a bill that seeks to distinguish treatment for an ectopic pregnancy and other medical conditions from abortion said her bill was a reaction to Republicans struggling on the issue during elections and that she wants to ban abortion from conception.  

Rep. Joy Goeben (R-Hobart) and Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken) introduced the bill in September and it will receive a public hearing on Wednesday in the Senate Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs committee. 

The authors have framed the bill as one to help clarify Wisconsin’s laws surrounding abortion by redefining certain medical procedures as not abortions.

At a September town hall posted to YouTube, hosted by the Wisconsin Conservative Coalition (WCC), a nonpartisan association of three conservative groups from the northeast part of the state, Goeben participated on a panel with Jacque and Reps. Nate Gustafson (R-Omro) and Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc). 

“It’s very simple,” Goeben said of her bill. “It is taking out the molar pregnancy, ectopic pregnancy — all of these things that we wouldn’t think of that as an abortion, but when there is an election we get killed on that on an emotional stance of, “Oh, this woman was going to die because she couldn’t get her health care,” Goeben said.

During the 2024 elections, Republicans lost 14 legislative seats under Wisconsin’s new voting maps. In many of those races, abortion was a major discussion point for Democratic candidates who criticized their Republican opponents for their positions on the issue. 

More will be at stake in 2026 for Republicans, who will be fighting to hold onto the majorities in the Senate and Assembly that they have held for 15 years. Democrats would need to win an additional five seats in the Assembly and an additional two in the Senate to flip each of those houses in 2026.

According to recent polling by Marquette Law School, abortion policy has declined as a “most important” issue among voters across all partisan groups in 2025 as compared to 2022, although 50% of respondents still said they were “very concerned” and 23% said they were “somewhat concerned” about the issue. 

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federally protected abortion rights, health care providers in Wisconsin worried about criminal penalties under an 1849 law considered a near-total abortion ban denied care to women who faced miscarriage and life-threatening pregnancy complications.

But Goeben called claims that women are restricted from receiving health care under restrictive abortion laws are “an out and out lie.”

Her bill, she said, takes away ammunition from Democrats who criticize abortion bans as harmful to women. “I would love to see our Democrat friends vote against this bill because it is, again, simply defining — these things are not abortion,” Goeben said.

Abortion access in Wisconsin has been in flux since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. For about 15 months, abortion access was effectively eliminated. The state Supreme Court then found in 2023 that the 1849 law no longer applied to abortion since  subsequent laws regulating abortion had been passed after 1849, making abortions up to 20 weeks legal. 

Strict abortion laws have also resulted in high-profile cases in states including Texas and Georgia where women have died preventable deaths because they were denied timely care.

In recent months, access at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, the state’s largest provider of abortion services, was paused due to federal changes and then restarted about a month later. The upheaval in access has caused confusion among patients and providers as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Some medical experts told the Wisconsin Watch that Goeben’s bill is misleading because it  attempts to distinguish medical procedures that end pregnancy under certain circumstances from abortion, which it defines as not including those circumstances.

Goeben said during the September panel discussion that she hopes the state eventually reverts to banning abortion at conception and told attendees that they could make that possible by helping elect candidates who align with their beliefs on the issue. 

“[The bill], unfortunately, isn’t changing the 20 weeks, which I hope at some point we can go back to conception, which is where life begins,” Goeben said. “You need to get online and educate and you need to vote in primaries for people who are 100% pro-life. We are going to have upcoming elections in safe seats. In those safe, conservative seats, are you getting a candidate who is 100% pro-life and is going to stand for that because there are people who are going to run in those seats who are not.”