Wisconsin judge to hear first arguments in abortion lawsuit

By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge is set to hear arguments Thursday in a lawsuit challenging the state’s 174-year-old abortion ban. The law was effectively voided for almost 50 years after the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide. When the high court struck down Roe v. Wade last year, it triggered Wisconsin’s old abortion ban. The state attorney general filed a lawsuit in June arguing that a Wisconsin law from 1985 is actually the one that should govern the state. That statute allows abortion up until a fetus is viable. A Republican county district attorney has filed a motion to dismiss the attorney general’s lawsuit. A circuit judge is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday.