A Wisconsin circuit court judge has ruled that an 1849 law that classifies the destruction of a fetus by someone other than the mother as a felony does not outlaw abortions, returning the state’s abortion access to its pre-Dobbs status.
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Diane Schlipper on Tuesday reaffirmed a ruling she issued earlier this year, finding that an 1800s-era law “does not apply to consensual abortions, but to feticide.”
After the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022, the question was raised over whether a Wisconsin state law passed in 1849 could go into effect. Roe had effectively invalidated the law when it was in effect.
Nah, we all agree that murder is bad and should always be illegal. We don’t need to sunset that one.
There’s obviously a practical approach between “all laws must sunset” and “laws never expire or change.”
There is more to laws than a binary “legal or not” determination. They also include how a crime is to be punished. That part of a law is much more sensitive to shifting cultural standards.
Take for example the discussions regarding murdering in self-defense. It used be treated like any other murder, but we realized that it was unfair to would-be victims. That’s how we got “stand your ground” laws. However now people are criticizing these laws for encouraging murder and paranoia, a significantly unintended consequence. There been difficulty addressing “stand your ground” because they are entrenched into case law.
A sunset clause would give easier access to the people for reassessment of “stand your ground.”
Sure, there are places where they can make sense. I didn’t say that there should be no sunset clauses, just that not all laws should automatically sunset.