2023-2024 STATE LegislatiON

1. ACT 79 Allows for creation of baby boxes!

On December 6, 2023, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed Senate Bill (SB) 369 into law as 2023 Wisconsin Act 79. Act 79 permits the installation of newborn infant safety devices under Wisconsin’s safe haven law. Authored by both Sen. Joan Ballweg (R-Markesan) and Rep. Ellen Schutt (R-Clinton), SB 369 previously passed the Wisconsin Assembly on November 15, 2023, and the Wisconsin Senate on October 17, 2023. Pro-Life Wisconsin Legislative Director Matt Sande testified in support of the legislation before the Assembly Committee on Children and Families on November 1, 2023.

The signing of Act SB 369 into law was a major bipartisan victory for babies in the State of Wisconsin. Sadly, lives have been lost due to infant abandonment, with one baby found deceased in a field in Whitewater earlier that year in March of 2023. Perhaps if the mother had known of a baby box nearby in which to place her baby boy silently and anonymously, he would be alive today.

In January of 2024, Pro-Life Wisconsin announced a new Baby Box Fund. Our supporters are now able to designate that their gift be directed towards helping fund efforts to install baby boxes around Wisconsin. As of March 2025, Pro-Life Wisconsin has granted out $8,268.75, and there are now three baby boxes officially operational in Wisconsin, with more to come.

Current baby boxes in Wisconsin are located in Elkhorn, Howard, and Racine.

2. SupportED The EMBRACE THEM BOTH BILL PACKAGE:

Pro-Life Wisconsin (PLW) was proud to advocate for the Embrace Them Both Bill Package during the 2023-2024 legislative session. On September 19, 2023, the Senate Committee on Licensing, Constitution and Federalism held a public hearing on the Embrace Them Both legislation, comprised of Senate Bills 343, 344, 345, & 346. PLW Legislative Director Matt Sande testified in support of all four Embrace Them Both bills.

Together, these bills maintain and strengthen our current law abortion ban and provide the necessary resources for both moms and babies to survive and thrive in a post-Roe Wisconsin. Authored by Sen. Romaine Quinn, the Embrace Them Both bills do the following:

Senate Bill 343 clarifies that medical procedures intended to save the life of a pregnant mother, and not intended to kill her preborn baby, are not abortions.

Senate Bill 344 increases the current state income tax exemption for dependents from $700 to $1,000 and extends the coverage to preborn children whose fetal heartbeat has been detected.

Senate Bill 345 requires the Department of Health Services to award an ongoing $1 million annual grant to Choose Life Wisconsin, Inc. to assist the non-profit organization in providing grants to pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) across Wisconsin.

Senate Bill 346 requires the Department of Children and Families to administer a competitive grant program that provides $5 million biennially to an adoption organization that provides financial assistance to parents seeking adoptions.

All four bills passed the Wisconsin Senate in the Fall of 2023 but failed to pass in the Wisconsin Assembly.

3. SupportED The Taxpayer Abortion Subsidy Prevention Act:

Pro-Life Wisconsin supported 2023 Senate Bill (SB) 300, legislation entitled the Taxpayer Abortion Subsidy Prevention Act, that prohibits the use of public employees and public property for activities relating to abortion. We recognized that it was possible for legal abortion to return to Wisconsin and testified that it was critical that we have laws on the books that shield taxpayers from subsidizing the killing of their preborn brothers and sisters with their state tax dollars.

Regrettably, SB 300 failed to pass in the Wisconsin Senate.

NOTE: Pro-Life Wisconsin Legislative Director Matt Sande and Dr. James Linn gave their testimony in support of SB 300 on September 19, 2023. Just one day prior on Monday September 18, 2023, Planned Parenthood began performing abortions again at their Water Street Health Center in Milwaukee and Madison East Health Center in response to Dane County Circuit Court Judge Diane Schlipper’s ruling on July 7, 2023, that Wisconsin’s abortion ban, State Statute 940.04, only applied to feticide and not elective abortion. However, the Dane County Circuit Court had not yet issued a final ruling that s.940.04 was unenforceable and had not placed an injunction on it. Furthermore, the law had not been repealed or modified by the state legislature. Therefore, the law remained in effect at the time that Planned Parenthood resumed providing abortions in Wisconsin.

4. OPPOSED BILL TO PERMIT ABORTION UP TO 14-WEEKS GESTATION:

The new year started with the Wisconsin Assembly passing Assembly Bill 975 on a 53-46 vote. The bill would have 1) permitted abortion up to 14-weeks gestation and 2) fast-tracked the legislation onto the popular ballot in April 2024. Thankfully, AB 975 died in the Wisconsin Senate.

The Heal Without Harm (HWH) Coalition. comprised of Pro-Life Wisconsin, Wisconsin Catholic Conference, Wisconsin Family
Action, and Wisconsin Right to Life stood in opposition to Assembly Bill 975 and its abortion referendum during a time when a challenge to Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban, State Statute 940.04, continued to proceed through the court system.

Ultimately, to the dedicated work of the Heal Without Harm Coalition AB 975 died in the Senate Committee on Licensing, Constitution and Federalism chaired by Sen. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere). Pro-Life Wisconsin thanks Chairman Jacque for killing this anti-life bill that abandoned the defense of our current abortion law, Wisconsin Statute 940.04, which bans abortion from conception.