[JURIST] Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel [official website] on Monday appealed a federal court ruling that struck down a law [text, PDF] requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. Schimel appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website] in Chicago to attempt to have the law reinstated. The law required that doctors who had performed abortions maintain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where the abortions were performed. Planned Parenthood [advocacy website] and Affiliated Medical Services [corporate website] sued the state, claiming that the law restricted access to abortions in Wisconsin. The plaintiffs contended that, if the law were to take effect, one of the four state health centers that offers abortion procedures would be forced to close, and the remaining three locations would not be able to “absorb the unmet need.” Judge William Conley of the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin [official website] ruled [JURIST report] last month that the law is unconstitutional.

Reproductive rights [JURIST backgrounder] have remained a divisive issue throughout the country. At the end of last month Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed a bill [JURIST report] that requires abortion providers in the state to tell women they can reverse the effects of a drug-induced abortion and also bars women from buying any health care plan through the federal marketplace that includes coverage for abortions. A week earlier the Kansas legislature approved [JURIST report] SB 95, a proposed ban on an abortion procedure typically used in second trimester abortions, becoming the first state in the country to do so. Earlier in March the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) requested [JURIST report], as part of their ongoing suit against the bill, that a federal judge block an Alabama law allowing fetuses legal representation in cases when minors seek abortions. Also in March the West Virginia Legislature overrode [JURIST report] the governor’s veto, passing a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks.