Consider This from NPR - How A New Majority On Wisconsin's Supreme Court Could Impact Reproductive Health

Episode Date: April 7, 2023

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a 19th century abortion ban took effect in Wisconsin and forced those practicing and seeking reproductive healthcare to travel across state lines. Earlier this week, voters elected Judge Janet Protasiewicz to become a justice on Wisconsin's Supreme Court, flipping control of the court to liberals for the first time in 15 years. That could have big implications on the future of abortion in the state. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Dr. Kristen Lyerly, an OB-GYN from Green Bay, Wisconsin, about how the judicial change could impact Wisconsin doctors who provide reproductive healthcare and their patients. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org. On Tuesday, while most of the country watched a former U.S. president face criminal charges for the first time, Wisconsin was making history of its own. In the most expensive state judicial race in American history, voters flipped control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, giving liberal justices a majority for the first time in 15 years. Wisconsin voters have made their voices heard.

They've chosen to reject partisan extremism in this state. That was the newly elected justice, Judge Janet Podosewicz, who will take her seat on the bench in August. She was open about her politics during her campaign. She called the state's Republican-drawn legislative maps, quote, rigged. And she also openly supported abortion rights, dedicating a third of her ad revenue to that issue. Her conservative opponent, former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly,

argued throughout the race that it's wrong for a jurist to announce personal views on matters like abortion and legislative redistricting. This was the most deeply deceitful, dishonorable, despicable campaign I have ever seen run for the courts. It is worth noting, though, as a private lawyer, Kelly once defended legislative maps drawn by Republicans in federal court. He also offered legal counsel to the state's Republican Party after the 2020 presidential election, when Republicans used fake electors to contest former President Trump's narrow loss in the state. Kelly did not mince words in his concession speech Tuesday night, saying that Protasewicz, quote,

demeaned the judiciary. I wish that in a circumstance like this, I would be able to concede to a worthy opponent. But I do not have a worthy opponent to which I can concede. Protasewicz defeated Kelly by over 10 points in an election that saw 1.8 million people turn out to vote, breaking the previous state record of 1.5 million. That was particularly noteworthy for Marquette University pollster Charles Franklin. It's a substantial win in terms of percentages. It's an astonishing win in terms of turnout. The election proved that abortion rights remain a key motivating issue for voters angry after an 1849 law that effectively outlaws abortion

in the state took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. A challenge to that ban has already been filed in a lower state court, and Wisconsin's Supreme Court is expected to decide whether or not to uphold that ban in the coming months. That makes the court's new 4-3 progressive majority an even bigger win for abortion advocates in the state. Some even danced on stage with Protisiewicz at her election night party on Tuesday. And while there is still work to be done,

tonight we celebrate this historic victory that has obviously reignited hope in so many of us. Consider this. The 19th century law that is now in effect in Wisconsin has forced both doctors and patients there to travel across state lines to practice and receive reproductive health care. And the new liberal majority on Wisconsin's Supreme Court could change that. We've all been afraid to dream

that this could really happen and that we could be headed in the right direction again. After the break, we hear from a Green Bay OBGYN who has been practicing in Minnesota in recent months on the impact that this change could have on her ability to treat patients. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Friday C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. After the Dobbs decision last year in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a Wisconsin law from 1849 went into effect. It makes performing an abortion a felony in the state, except when it's to save the life of the pregnant person. And the law has changed how medical professionals do their jobs. I don't feel comfortable practicing in Wisconsin, so I am practicing in Minnesota, which is why I'm driving right now.

That is Dr. Kristen Leierle, an OBGYN who lives in Green Bay. Our team first talked to her earlier this week on her very long commute home. When Dobbs happened, you know, I decided that the best thing, the safest thing for me and my family was for me to work two or three weeks a month in Minnesota. I'm coming home from a 10-day stint. Then my co-host Mary Louise Kelly reached out to Dr. Lyerly after she had returned home in Wisconsin and asked what the past 10 months since the overturning of Roe v. Wade have been like for people like her in reproductive health care. It's been a nightmare. It's been a nightmare for me and my colleagues and my patients, really for all of us.

As soon as Dobbs happened and we reverted back to the 1849 criminal abortion ban, there was so much chaos and confusion and fear and misinformation. We didn't know what kinds of procedures and care we could provide. People didn't know what kind of care they could get. And although we've clarified much of that, there still is so much confusion that it continues to cause problems every single day. When you say it has been a nightmare for your colleagues, what's that conversation like with doctors who may still be practicing in Wisconsin as OBGYNs? Well, on one level, people who are seeing patients every single day are faced with additional complexities and barriers to care,

things that they're having to do to make sure that they are in compliance with this law if it truly is able to be enforced. On another level, they're thinking about if this law continues to be on the books, can they continue to practice here? I've spoken with a number of colleagues who practice in underserved areas who love their jobs and they love the people that they serve, but they wonder how long they can stay there. And to be honest, they have resignation letters ready for if they need to go. What about for patients, your patients? Where are they going right now if they need abortion care? Most of them are going to Illinois because that is the closest state to

where our population centers are in Madison and Milwaukee. Some are traveling to Minnesota, some are traveling further away, but many are not receiving the care that they need because they can't overcome the barriers, the cost, transportation, additional child care. Many of these people have kids at home, time away from work. Any barrier to care is causing problems for people to access fundamental reproductive health care. When you heard the news this week that Judge Protasewicz would soon become Justice Protasewicz and the implications for abortion in your state, what went through your mind? I couldn't even allow myself to believe it for about 30 minutes until I checked on a number of different resources to make sure that it was true, because this is what we had been hoping for. Doctors across the state, in rural areas, in urban areas, neurologists, radiologists,

pediatricians, every specialty. We've really come together to help people understand how much this is affecting the House of Medicine. And all of this effort that we've been putting out has not only brought us together, but I think has given us hope. But we've all been afraid to dream that this could really happen and that we could be headed in the right direction again. So that realization that this truly could put Wisconsin back on that path to being a healthy state again, where we can truly take care of our patients, was overwhelming. To be honest with you, Mary Louise, I burst into tears. It was, wow, just wow. And to circle back to your area of expertise, to medicine, I mean, I get why this is of extreme interest for an OBGYN. Like, why,

when you say neurologists care, the doctors across the state are in your corner. Why? It's so much more than just abortion care. I think that because abortion has been such a political issue, we tend to think of it as something that lives on this isolated island. But the truth is abortion care is integrated into every part of women's health care, from miscarriage management to helping somebody achieve a pregnancy, someone who's been struggling with infertility, to managing a complicated pregnancy, contraception. I mean, really all of those things.

And especially when we're dealing with complicated pregnancies, we often have to send our patients to people like neurologists, cardiologists, pulmonologists, radiologists. So we're consulting with the entire house of medicine to help our highest risk patients have the most successful pregnancy outcomes possible. And they too understand how the system is currently failing pregnant people at all levels. And not only that, but in a state where we are criminalizing care, where politicians are inserting themselves in the doctor-patient relationship and threatening felony charges, threatening to put doctors in jail for truly taking care of our patients, what's next?

So it's our imperative to stand up and make sure that people understand that we went to medical school to take care of each other. And this is just a different way that we are taking care of the people of Wisconsin. What will this mean to you if the law currently in effect in Wisconsin is overturned? Will you return to practicing medicine full-time in Wisconsin? It is my dream to come back home and take care of my patients here in Wisconsin. I'm a sixth generation Wisconsinite. My whole family lives here. My kids are here. My patients are here. There's nothing I want more than to come back here and start taking care of Wisconsinites again. That was my co-host, Mary Louise Kelly, speaking with Dr. Kristen Leierle and OBGYN in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Earlier in this episode, you heard reporting from WUWM's Chuck Kornbach

and Wisconsin Public Radio's Shawn Johnson. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.