Kelly* felt like she was living inside a cheesy romantic comedy when she saw a tiny, blurry plus sign on her drug store pregnancy test during the summer of 2018. The 26-year-old never expected to get knocked up, much less after a drunken one-night stand with a longtime friend. Kelly knew she wasn’t financially stable enough to raise a child, so she made the choice that thousands of Wisconsin women make every year: she decided get an abortion.
“I just ended up calling Planned Parenthood and speaking to this amazing lady,” says Kelly. “I don’t know what her name was, but I will never, ever forget her. She should keep her job there forever, because she’s phenomenal.” The woman on the phone told Kelly she had an abortion once, too, and walked her through Wisconsin’s process.
When Kelly arrived at Planned Parenthood, she skimmed through some paperwork and was whisked away by a nurse into a huge recovery room, filled wall-to-wall with reclining chairs. “I was the only one back there,” says Kelly. “You know how you see on the TV shows, with people on the stretchers and there’s just like, hospital lights above them?” she asks. “That’s the intensity I felt.”
During her procedure, Kelly says the nurse tried to comfort her, and the OBGYN mostly spoke about the medical aspects of abortion. After making necessary small talk, he three women quickly learned they all shared one thing in common. “There was a lot of conversation about how we all hated Scott Walker and Donald Trump,” says Kelly
It’s no secret that abortion access in the state of Wisconsin is extremely limited. Even though Wisconsin has been considered progressive in other political areas, reproductive rights in the state are frequently challenged by citizens and politicians alike. Wisconsin has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the county, and the state’s “purple” political climate often creates a tug-of-war affect with abortion legislation. Both pro-choice and anti-abortion advocates are actively working to undermine one another’s efforts, and organizations on both ends of the abortion spectrum are trying to assist women experiencing unplanned pregnancies.
An October 2018 political survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 58 percent ofAmericans believe abortion “should be legal in all or most cases.” Conversely, 37 percent believe the procedure should be outlawed in all or most cases. The survey found “deep disagreement between – and within – the parties over abortion,” stating “the partisan divide on abortion is far wider than it was two decades ago.” A religious landscape study conducted by the Pew Forum found that 53 percent of Wisconsin residents believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 45 percent believe abortion should be outlawed. These numbers are noticeably different from the national averages, and they’re reflective of Wisconsin’s current political climate and attitudes toward abortion.
According to “Abortion Laws in Wisconsin,” a document created by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, performing abortions was criminally prohibited in the state from 1849 until the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade was challenged in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a case that “upheld the essential holding” of Roe v. Wade but also “held that certain state restrictions on abortion are permissible.” The case put abortion rights into the hands of individual states’ lawmakers, and Wisconsin would begin to feel the effects shortly after the case was complete.
‘I Haven’t Had a Safe Feeling in Eight Years’
Extremist attitudes toward abortion have made headlines in Wisconsin for years. In 2011, a Planned Parenthood office in Grand Chute, Wis. was damaged after a homemade bomb was placed on a building windowsill after business hours. The bomb did not detonate, but concern for patient and provider safety became a high priority for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. Five years later, the clinic closed its doors due to security concerns. Also in 2011, Marshfield, Wis. resident Ralph Lane was arrested in a Madison motel room after his gun accidentally fired. Lane was found guilty of attempted first-degree intentional homicide for plotting to kill a Planned Parenthood abortion provider inside the Madison clinic, admitting that he was planning to “mow down” the clinic’s staff.
Seven years later, Wisconsin abortion clinic employees are still worried about their own safety and the safety of patients. Jessica* works at an abortion clinic in downtown Milwaukee, and says constant protests often leave staff feeling on edge. “It’s a really hostile environment,” she says. “It makes an already overwhelming situation even more overwhelming. I just try to get inside and stay inside all day until I leave.” Jessica says that anti-abortion protestors target clinic employees with different tactics, including offering monetary assistance to find a new job. “I try not to think about it too much,” she says. “Sometimes the protestors overstep their boundaries and touch patients, or just act creepy and weird. I don’t fear for my safety, but I don’t want to say they’re harmless.”
Only one provider works at Jessica’s clinic, and she notes that employees work hard to ensure the doctor’s safety. “We try to protect her the most because she’s the most important part of our clinic,” she says. “It’s not a hot job that people want to do. Doctors get killed doing this job.” Media representatives from Aurora Healthcare and Froedtert were unable to find doctors who were willing to comment on how they manage patients who are interested in obtaining abortions in the state of Wisconsin.
Sarah* is a Milwaukee-based Planned Parenthood employee who has worked both in health centers and in the downtown administrative office. She started volunteering for Planned Parenthood after getting an abortion a few years earlier. “If you’re not passionate about the issue – if it’s not important to you – you’re not going to make it very far past the protestors, past the politics,” she says. “My goal is to make sure that nobody has to go through [an abortion] alone.” She began working at Planned Parenthood in 2011 – the same year as Scott Walker’s election, the Grande Chute bombing and the Madison shooting. “Those types of things are always in the back of our minds,” says Sarah. “When you work in a health center, [adversity] is daily – protestors are constantly yelling various things at you.”
Sarah says she tries to keep a positive attitude about her workspace, but thoughts linger in the back of her mind. “I know why I’m there – I’m passionate about it. It kind of just rolls of my shoulder,” she says, “but I’m very cautious checking my car before getting in at night.” She says many employees are “hyper-aware” of their surroundings, going as far as protecting their online profiles to prevent harassment. She says Planned Parenthood’s abortion doctors face protests in their homes. “I haven’t had a safe feeling in eight years,” she says. “It’s a really difficult way to live.”
The abortion clinic employees’ worries don’t end when they walk out the door. Wisconsin’s attitudes toward abortion follow them home, and job security is often on their minds. “I think the people I work with that spend a lot of time on social media, watching the news are feeling extra stressed – and so are the patients that are more socially aware,” says Jessica. “It’s just crazy that misogyny is thriving so well.” Sarah echoes the same sentiments, saying that Planned Parenthood’s support ebbs and flows depending on the current political climate. “It’s kind of a catch-22 when there’s a supportive governor or president,” she says. “It’s a better environment for the sake of our jobs – like, we don’t have to worry on a daily basis if they’re going to shut us down – but donors don’t give as much.”
Elizabeth Nash, senior states issues expert at the Guttmacher Institute, and Mel Barnes, the Legal and Policy Director at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, have compared Wisconsin’s abortion laws to those of Texas, a state nationally recognized for its restrictive abortion laws. “Wisconsin and Texas aren’t that dissimilar,” says Nash. “They have a lot of the same kinds of restrictions and the same kinds of impacts, including limited access to abortion clinics. There are a lot of ways in which Texas and Wisconsin are similar, and that may surprise people.”
In 1996, Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson signed a law that requires women seeking abortions to participate in a state-mandated counseling session followed by a 24-hour waiting period. The law was seen as the first major attack on abortion rights in Wisconsin, but it wasn’t until Scott Walker took office that abortion rights became an extremely pressing issue for state politicians.
‘Medically Unnecessary, Unconstitutional’
Barnes notes that even compared to neighboring midwestern states, Wisconsin’s abortion laws are atypical. “Illinois has laws that are more based on medical evidence and patient safety,” she says. “Wisconsin has a lot of laws that aren’t based on any sort of medical evidence and that are really politically motivated to make it harder for women to access care in this state.” Barnes notes that Wisconsin already had many restrictions on abortion access before Walker was elected, and says the state has seen a few pieces of copycat anti-abortion legislature make their way through the courts. She says Wisconsin’s abortion laws tend to be “medically unnecessary, unconstitutional, designed to bully women and prevent them from accessing abortion.”
In 2012, Walker signed his first piece of anti-abortion legislation, a ban on telemedicine abortions in the state. Telemedicine abortions allow women to choose the “pill abortion” process, which can be done at home with support from a doctor via webcam. The law also required that any pills administered for a medication abortion must be given to a patient by the same doctor who performs her state-mandated counseling appointment.
The following year, Walker signed a controversial bill requiring women to get an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. Women are read a state-mandated script describing what is on the ultrasound screen, and are given the option of viewing the ultrasound results. Two years later, Walker signed a law enforcing a 20-week abortion ban, making abortions performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy illegal. “Wisconsin is definitely one of those states that people now think of as a restrictive state,” says Nash. “15 years ago, Wisconsin wasn’t considered that way at all; it was much more of a middle-of-the-road state, and this is really reflective of how the political climate has really changed since around 2011.”
Because of Wisconsin’s strict laws, only three clinics in the entire state perform abortions; two in Milwaukee and one in Madison, according to Planned Parenthood. A fourth clinic in Sheboygan provides limited pill abortions. The locations of these clinics mean that rural women are disproportionally affected by Wisconsin’s restrictive laws; the clinics are each located in southern, metropolitan areas. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 96% of Wisconsin counties have no abortion clinics, and 67% of Wisconsin women live in those counties.
2018 was a landmark year for political changes, both statewide and nationally. With the controversial appointment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a woman’s right to choose has been in the news far more frequently than years past. Barnes notes that there’s been a focus on women’s health and reproductive rights in general, not just abortion care. “I think it’s particularly relevant in Wisconsin because Wisconsin has a criminal ban on abortion that existed before Roe v. Wade was decided,” she says. “For some reason, if Roe v. Wade was overturned, that law would go back into effect in Wisconsin, making all abortion a crime.”
‘It’s a Living, Breathing, Heart-Beating Baby Inside of Me’
Wisconsin Right to Life is an anti-abortion group whose main goal is to “protect life from the moment of conception until natural death.” Executive director Heather Weiniger says the organization works with legislatures to promote anti-abortion laws and spread an anti-abortion message. “When it comes to legislation, we obviously work on introducing bills that we want to get passed,” says Weiniger. “We also work on fighting bills to overturn current laws we might have.”
During the 2018 midterm elections, Wisconsin Right to Life was busy working with candidates who align themselves with the organization’s staunch anti-abortion message. “During an election time, we talk about who favors life, who doesn’t, what their positions are,” she says. “We spread that message to our members, as well as other pro-life members throughout Wisconsin.” Notable 2018 endorsements include Scott Walker, congress member-elect Bryan Steil, and Leah Vukmir.
“Oftentimes, when someone is elected to office, an elected official is not an expert in every single subject they’re going to be voting on,” says Weiniger. “It’s our goal at Wisconsin Right to Life to educate them on what a bill will do, how it will protect human life, and help get them to the point where they understand what they’re going to be voting on.”
Wisconsin Right to Life faces challenges not unlike those of Planned Parenthood, even though they have completely different views on a woman’s right to choose. Weiniger acknowledges that Democrat Tony Evers’ 2018 election will create setbacks for the group in the coming years. “Obviously, the challenge is when a party is in office who doesn’t hold pro-life values, we don’t have something signed into law,” she says. “But when that’s happening, we’re still working with legislatures to introduce bills. It’s a great time for us to work with the public to spread our pro-life message.”
One piece of legislation that Weiniger is especially proud of is Wisconsin’s mandatory ultrasound law. “Now, women who are seeking an abortion have an option to see that unborn child on an ultrasound,” she says. “When you see that baby, it’s a reality of ‘This is no longer what they’re telling me it is,’ – it’s a living, breathing, heart-beating baby inside of me.” Weiniger believes that Wisconsin Right to Life and similar organizations have directly influenced Wisconsin’s abortion laws. “Using our taxpayer dollars to end the life of an unborn child is something we will continue to fight each and every day,” she says. “Our job is to work with the legislature, help them craft legislature, give our input and testify.”
According to Weinigher, there were 5,612 abortions performed in Wisconsin in 2016, and she says that number has dropped significantly throughout recent years. “As those numbers are dropping, people are obviously looking at other options,” she says. Weininger notes that Wisconsin Right to Life works closely with “pregnancy resource centers” – otherwise known as crisis pregnancy centers – to give women the option to keep her unborn baby. “Our job, I believe, is to get women through the door of those centers,” she says. “They are the ones who are skilled, offering education and navigating parenthood.”
‘A Nice Place for Women to Come and Feel Comfortable’
Milwaukee is home to a number of crisis pregnancy centers, including Women’s Care Center, CareNET and Eyewitness for Life. “These pregnancy resource centers are great resources after women have the baby,” says Weiniger. “Many of them offer basic skills to be able to live life and sometimes that’s all it takes.”
Women’s Care Center has two locations in the Milwaukee area; one is located across the street from Affiliated Medical Services, and the other is located across from a Planned Parenthood clinic on Milwaukee’s south side. According to Sarah Campbell, Women’s Care Center development coordinator, the organization takes around 33 clients a day between their two Milwaukee locations. Last year, 1,317 babies were born to Women’s Care Center moms in Milwaukee – according to Campbell, that’s 1 in 10 babies born in the city of Milwaukee.
Walking into the Women’s Care Center on Farwell Avenue is comparable to walking into a high-end plastic surgeon’s office. The furniture looks new, the walls are a soft shade of beige and background music is playing softly. Volunteers with smiling faces greet visitors at the door, immediately asking what brings them in. “We always try to have it be very warm and welcoming,” says Campbell. “Just a nice place for women to come and feel comfortable.”
Women’s Care Center boasts free “medical grade” pregnancy tests and free ultrasounds for women who believe they’re pregnant. The building houses various counseling rooms, an ultrasound room and their “Crib Club,” a small boutique-type room where clients can take home free items for their baby.
The first step for Women’s Care Center clients is receiving counseling from the organization’s staff. “Our counseling is a very nonjudgmental approach,” says Campbell. “Everything that a woman says is met with love.” Women’s Care Center doesn’t refer for abortions, but Campbell says counselors “go through the process” with their clients. “If a client does want to talk about the option of abortion, we are happy to talk about that with them,” she says. “We talk about the surgical abortion, the chemical one at home, and just explaining the medical facts.”
Photos: Lauren Keene
A counseling room inside Women’s Care Center. 
The “Crib Club” inside Women’s Care Center. 
Crib Club’s seasonal offerings. 
Hundreds of diapers sit inside crib club, pre-bundled for mothers to take home. 
A rack of female baby clothes. 
Toiletries, including soap and baby oil, are available for mothers. 
Toothpaste and baby powder are also available. 
Clothes for baby boys. 
Clothing for older children is also available, up to size 5T. 
Women’s Care Center has a storage room full of diapers, clothing and other overstock items. 
Overstock diapers sit inside the storage room. 
Seasonal clothes are saved in the storage room. 
Fetal diagrams are on the counter inside the ultrasound room. 
A chart hanging on the wall of the ultrasound room. 
The lobby of Women’s Care Center. 
Leather chairs for children are accompanied by toys inside the lobby. 
Free children’s books, donated by Women’s Care Center supporters. 
Baby shoes line the floors of Women’s Care Center.
The center’s staff consists of paid employees, who Campbell says undergo “intensive” six to eight-week training. Women’s Care Center employs four sonographers to perform ultrasounds, but no other medically licensed staff are on the payroll. James Linn, MD is the medical director for Women’s Care Center, and he oversees ultrasounds and other medical aspects. (Linn’s medical profile mentions he’s a member of the American Association of Pro-Life OB/GYNs.) The counseling staff members aren’t required to have a social work or psychology background, but Campbell says the organization is selective regardless.
The most arresting part of Women’s Care Center is the Crib Club. The tiny room is full of clothes, blankets, toys, toiletries – a dream come true for a struggling mother-to-be. The items are paid for using “coupons” that clients earn for attending classes held at the center, with topics ranging from breastfeeding to potty-training. “We kind of take a learn and earn approach,” says Campbell. “We view it as a hand up, not hand-out kind of deal.” Parents earn one coupon per class, and if they bring a “support person,” such as a father or grandmother, they’re able to earn two – as long as the support person is consistent.
Most of the Crib Club items are donated by individuals or through parish-organized drives. The racks are stocked with tiny baby snowsuits, onesies and even formalwear – one Christmas dress had a tag for $56. The strollers, car seats and cribs are purchased by the organization to ensure safety standards are being met. “We’re really fortunate,” says Campbell. “People are really generous towards us.” Smaller items, like clothing and diapers, are one coupon while larger items can range from ten to 12 coupons.
Campbell says Women’s Care Center no longer provides services to mothers after their children turn two – unless, of course, they have another baby. The organization claims that overall, 92 percent of women who visit Women’s Care Center decide to keep their baby.
‘They Gave Us the False Information That Abortion Could Hurt a Woman’
Even though Women’s Care Center and other crisis pregnancy centers claim that they provide options options for clients, abortion is still often stigmatized and ignored. Cynthia* found out she was pregnant in 2018, and wanted to weigh her options before deciding how to proceed with her pregnancy. She suffers from endometriosis, and she notes that there was only a 50 percent chance that her pregnancy would be successful through labor. She was initially leaning towards keeping her baby, assuming her health didn’t further complicate her pregnancy
Cynthia works in the NICU at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and she knew ultrasounds and other pre-natal care could be costly. She decided to visit both Planned Parenthood and Women’s Care Center to learn more about her options. She visited Planned Parenthood first, she says, because “Women’s Care Center and the crisis centers have the reputation of keeping your babies, and I just wanted a completely neutral opinion.” Planned Parenthood was unable to provide an ultrasound for her pregnancy despite Cynthia’s condition, and she was still concerned about her health of her pregnancy. She walked out of Planned Parenthood and decided to visit Women’s Care Center to receive an advertised free ultrasound.
Upon arriving at the center, she took a pregnancy test and was taken into a room alone to discuss her pregnancy with a counselor. “The lady doing the counseling, she had a cross necklace on, and it’s one of the things I noticed from the very beginning, knowing I might be getting into a very biased situation,” she says.“I don’t feel like all of her information was accurate, especially because she told me an abortion with endo could make me not have a kid, or stuff could go wrong with an abortion that could make me infertile.”
According to “The Safety and Quality ofAbortions in the United States,” abortions performed in the United States have minimal risks and are generally safe procedures. The study says that “abortion-specific regulations in many states create barriers to safe and effective care,” and that many of the laws have no basis in medical research. Abortion safety has been echoed by Planned Parenthood, who says that abortions are a very “safe, simple and common procedure.”
Cynthia says her counselor was hesitant to discuss termination, even despite Cynthia’s medical condition. “Talking to the woman, she was really trying to lean me towards the options of adoption or keeping it,” Cynthia says. “There was no mention of my choice of abortion until I brought it up.” Cynthia was aware that the medical information provided to her by Women’s Care Center was incorrect. “She gave us pamphlets and tried to tell me with my endo that an abortion could hinder me to have children in the future, which I know was false,” she says. “They gave us the false information that abortion could hurt a woman.”
Due to her endometriosis, Cynthia received two ultrasounds from Women’s Care Center and decided to carry her pregnancy to term. She says she doesn’t know if she could handle “going through with” an abortion, but her experience with an unplanned pregnancy changed her opinions on pregnancy termination. “I was actually pro-life because I work with babies and children,”she says. “Everything I went through with a pregnancy being difficult, I have now actually changed my mind completely to pro-choice.”
‘Our Goal Is to Love a Woman, Support Her and Give Her Help’
Less than two blocks north of Women’s Care Center is Care Net, another crisis pregnancy center providing free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests and support for moms-to-be. Care Net shares many similarities with Women’s Care Center; nearly all items are donated, and they aim to help women before, during and after their pregnancies. One of the first noticeable differences is Care Net’s apparent Christian affiliation. “Our mission is to share the love of Christ with women facing an unplanned pregnancy,” says executive director Rachel Schepp. “The way we share that love is by offering free services.”
Schepp says that 80% of Care Net’s clients are low-income women who live in Milwaukee’s inner city. Care Net clients are invited to visit the center every 30 days and pick up necessities like diapers and formula free of charge. “We know that women are in need, and we want to be a support for them,” says Schepp. According to Schepp, 90 percent of women who visit Care Net decide to carry their pregnancies to term. Care Net sees an average of 25 clients per week, but Schepp says that’s “definitely an average,” as the number of clients fluctuates day-to-day.
Photos: Lauren Keene
Baby and maternity clothes are stacked floor-to-ceiling inside Care Net’s storage room. 
Care Net’s “to do” list. 
Baby blankets are available for mothers. 
Other items, like toys, are available for Care Net clients. 
A “free stuff” bin sits inside the lobby. 
Care Net’s ultrasound room. 
Fetal development figures sit on the windowsill inside the ultrasound room. 
Baby formula is one of Care Net’s most popular items. 
Parenting books are available for expectant mothers. 
Pamphlets for clients. 
Stairs leading up to Care Net’s entrance. 
Care Net advertises free pregnancy tests outside the door on Oakland Avenue.
Like Women’s Care Center, Care Net does not provide referrals for abortion. “In the case where someone is set on making that choice, we would provide medically accurate information on the procedure, making sure she has all of her questions answered,” says Schepp. “What we want to do is remove barriers to women for choosing life. If a woman comes in and says, ‘I want to have an abortion,’ we ask how we can help.” Care Net also offers post-abortion counseling for women feeling remorseful about their abortions. Only one volunteer provides the counseling, using a bible-study curriculum called Forgiven and Set Free.
Schepp says Care Net doesn’t get involved in the political side of abortion, and notes the organization doesn’t take a stand on legislation regarding laws or access. “We never want to manipulate or try and make someone feel bad about a decision,” says Schepp. “Our goal is to love a woman, support her and give her help.”
‘The Last Frontier of the Civil Rights Movement’
Both Women’s Care Center and Care Net receive support from Pro-Life Wisconsin, a Christian, anti-abortion legislative organization that works closely with politicians to restrict abortion access in the state of Wisconsin. Legislative director Matt Sande — who refused to be recorded during an interview — describes the group’s views on abortion as “countercultural.” The group does not support a woman’s choice to end her pregnancy even in the event of rape or incest, believing that a conceived child is a blessing after a traumatic event. They also have controversial views on abortion if the mother’s life is at risk, and believe birth control has an “abortion-causing effect.”
Much like Wisconsin Right to Life, Pro-Life Wisconsin works closely with anti-abortion politicians to pass anti-abortion legislation. Since 2011, the organization has had a heavy hand in 12 pieces of Wisconsin legislation stripping away abortion rights. Pro-Life Wisconsin has worked on a number of noteworthy anti-abortion bills, including multiple bills that have attempted to defund Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. They were also instrumental in banning telemedicine abortions and the bill requiring mandatory ultrasounds. Other noteworthy efforts include bills that prohibit abortion coverage under “Obamacare” insurance plans and bills ending abortion coverage for Wisconsin state employees.
Sande says the group believes that political and legal designation needs to be made as soon as a person exists – in their opinion, at conception. He describes their anti-abortion efforts as “the last frontier of the Civil Rights Movement,” comparing the effects of abortion to racism. The group trains anti-abortion Wisconsinites to serve as “sidewalk ministers” outside of abortion clinics like Planned Parenthood and Affiliated Medical Services. Sande says Pro-Life Wisconsin also tracks their number of “saves” – pregnancies that were carried to term due to their outreach efforts. Sidewalk ministers are trained by volunteers on how to talk women into turning away from abortion clinics and “choosing life” instead.
‘It’s Impossible to Predict the Future’
Wisconsin’s ever-shifting political landscape means the fight over abortion rights is far from over. On Nov. 6, 2018, Democrat Tony Evers defeated eight-year incumbent Scott Walker in the race for governor. Evers vocalized his pro-choice stance throughout his campaign, and many pro-choice activists breathed a brief of relief when it was announced that Evers won the election.
Despite Evers’ victory, Wisconsin’s legislation is still Republican controlled – as is the Supreme Court. Many abortion rights activists worry that Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation could mean “bad news” for reproductive health legislation, especially in restrictive states like Wisconsin.
“It’s impossible to predict the future,” says Barnes. “He’s made it very clear that the constitution does not protect the right to abortion, and I think it’s very possible he could reverse Roe.” Barnes notes that many Wisconsin women opt to terminate their pregnancies out of state where laws are less restrictive, particularly in Illinois and Minnesota. “The right to access abortion care,” she says, “is not the reality for many women in Wisconsin.”
Heading into 2019, it’s very likely that both pro-choice and anti-abortion camps will face unique challenges surrounding reproductive rights. Regardless of which political party is in charge, one thing is certain: due to passionate advocates on each side of the debate, challenges won’t be going away any time soon.
*Names have been changed to protect those who fear harassment.