Wisconsin Gov. vows to grant clemency to doctors charged under state abortion ban

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vowed over the weekend to grant clemency to anyone charged under the state’s 1849 law banning most abortions.

That law, enacted more than a century before Roe v. Wade, has remained on the books in the state and has technically retaken effect following the Supreme Court ruling on Friday overturning the landmark case.

Evers, Wisconsin Democratic attorney general Josh Kaul and several county district attorneys in the state have said they would refuse to enforce it, but it remains possible that other officials — such as other district attorneys and newly elected state lawmakers — could enforce it now or in the future. Evers and Kaul are both up for re-election this fall, and both are facing tough races.

But at a rally during Wisconsin’s state Democratic Party convention Saturday, Evers went even further, saying that in addition to taking steps to not enforce the law, he would grant clemency to doctors prosecuted under the law.

“The 1849 law says that anybody that provides an abortion is subject to a felony, one to six years,” Evers said. “Did you ever think about the word clemency? I will provide clemency to any physician that is charged under that law,” Evers said.

“I don’t think that a law that was written before the Civil War, or before women secured the right to vote, should be used to dictate these intimate decisions on reproductive health,” he added.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/wisconsin-gov-vows-grant-clemency-doctors-charged-state-abortion-ban-rcna35479

One of the good guys!