NCJ Number
120712
Date Published
1989
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This report describes the July 3, 1989 US Supreme Court decision on abortion in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and related Wisconsin statutes.
Abstract
In Webster, five health care professionals challenged the constitutionality of several provisions of a Missouri law regulating abortion. The US Supreme Court's decision to uphold the provisions has no effect on Wisconsin's abortion statutes. Under Wisconsin law, a woman who obtains an abortion is exempt from prosecution. Any person other than the mother who intentionally destroys the life of an unborn child may be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned not more than three years, or both; or who intentionally destroys the life of an unborn quick child or in so doing causes the death of the mother may be imprisoned not more than 15 years; unless it is a therapeutic abortion performed by a physician or the mother's life is at stake. Other Wisconsin abortion statutes relate to the restriction of public funding and to parental notification.