Current Status - Summary

As of January 2025, women’s rights in Wisconsin sit at a crossroads, shaped by a divided political climate and laws that leave key protections unresolved. The state has taken meaningful steps forward in women's health and voting fairness, even as ongoing fights over gender, education, and equity reveal deep political divides. Because key protections are not firmly codified in law, women’s rights here remain especially sensitive to court rulings, enforcement decisions, and upcoming elections—making progress uneven, but unmistakably active.

Top 5 Things to Know

• Abortion access has returned—but remains unstable.
  Clinics are operating again after the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling, but access depends on ongoing court decisions and enforcement choices.
• Lawmakers are pulling abortion policy in opposite directions.
  Some proposals would protect people from investigation after miscarriage or stillbirth, while others would grant fetuses legal rights—raising the risk of delayed care and criminal penalties for patients and providers.
• New proposals could further restrict how abortion care is delivered.
  A bill requiring state-issued “catch kits” for medication abortion would add new privacy, enforcement, and access hurdles for patients.
• Voting access has expanded, but new ID rules are now locked in.
  Ballot drop boxes are back and new maps are in place, but a 2025 constitutional amendment cemented voter ID requirements.
• Education and gender policy remain flashpoints.
  Sports participation rules, DEI rollbacks, and the fate of Erin’s Law continue to divide lawmakers.

Women's Health

Wisconsin has restored abortion access and continues to pursue improvements in preventive and maternal health, but recent bills show that the landscape is still shifting.

Reproductive Rights

• The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling striking down enforcement of the 1849 abortion ban enabled clinics to resume care, but legal challenges to the modern abortion statute remain active, keeping access vulnerable.
• A 2025 GOP proposal would require state-issued “catch kits” for at-home medication abortion, raising privacy and enforcement concerns.
• Federal debates around EMTALA and medication abortion continue to influence provider caution and emergency-care protocols.
• In late 2025, lawmakers advanced two abortion-related bills with sharply different implications for care and accountability. SB 556 would establish legal recognition of fetal personhood, a move experts warn could restrict reproductive care and increase legal risk during miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or other emergencies. By contrast, the Pregnancy Loss Protection Act would explicitly protect individuals from investigation or prosecution following miscarriage or stillbirth, responding to growing concerns about post-pregnancy criminalization.

Healthcare Access

• Bipartisan bills introduced in 2025 would allow pharmacists to directly prescribe birth control and require insurance coverage for supplemental breast imaging; both await final legislative action.
• New menopause-awareness legislation gained momentum, reflecting increased attention to women’s preventive and midlife health needs.
• A bipartisan bill to extend postpartum coverage under BadgerCare remains stalled in the Senate. WI remains one of only two states that haven't expanded Medicaid coverage for postpartum moms.

Workplace Rights

Wisconsin continues to lag behind neighboring states on family-support policies, but some efforts signal growing attention to gender equity.

• Proposals for statewide paid family and medical leave remain stalled.
• A partial extension of pandemic-era childcare subsidies was approved, helping stabilize costs for families but not fixing broader access gaps.
• Lawmakers have introduced a bill to add Equal Rights protections to the state constitution—a step toward strengthening gender-equity guarantees if adopted.

Violence & Safety

Wisconsin has pursued bipartisan reforms aimed at prevention and survivor protections, though many proposals remain pending.

• ERPO (Extreme Risk Protection Order) and firearm-surrender bills introduced in 2025 have not passed but show growing bipartisan attention to firearm-related intimate-partner violence.
• Lawmakers have expanded protections for sexual-assault survivors, including proposals to extend time limits for reporting.

Voting & Civic Participation

Wisconsin continues to take steps that expand fair representation, even as new ID rules create trade-offs.

• Court rulings in 2024 reinstated ballot drop boxes statewide.
• New legislative maps replaced years of partisan gerrymandering, increasing representation.
• A voter-ID constitutional amendment approved in April 2025 cemented existing ID rules, which critics say may disproportionately affect women, students, and older voters.

Education

Wisconsin’s education landscape remains divided, reflecting competing visions of inclusion, parental rights, and civil rights.

• The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) policy restricts girls’ sports participation to students assigned female at birth.
• Ongoing DEI audits across the UW System have led to program reductions and reduced support for marginalized student groups.
• Erin’s Law, which would require child sexual abuse prevention education in schools, awaits Senate consideration in 2026.

Related WRDI Reporting

Two abortion bills show Wisconsin's deep divide as 2025 ends (Dec 25)
2026 Elections - WI (Dec 25)
Wisconsin's creative new abortion bill - "Catch Kits" (Nov 25)
Wisconsin advances two healthcare access bills (Oct 25)
Wisconsin considering domestic violence safety measures (Oct 25)
Wisconsin 1849 abortion ban removed (Oct 25)
Child care funds partially extended in WI, with impact uncertain (Jul 25)
Voter ID requirement added to the WI state constitution (Jun 25)
WI schools: gender and equity in transition (Jun 25)