Federal Judge Puts Temporary Kibosh On Wisconsin Abortion Restrictions

U.S. District Judge William Conley has temporarily blocked restrictive new abortion laws in Wisconsin that are similar to Alabama’s, Mississippi’s, North Dakota’s, and (obviously) Texas’ recent institutions.

Specifically, that every physician must have admitting privileges at a local hospital (within 30 miles), garnering the disapproval of the ACLU, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Wisconsin Public Health Association.

Conley wrote a 44-page statement about his reasoning behind the decision, which involved something called “logic”:

“Given the substantial likelihood of success on the merits and of irreparable harm, the public’s interest is best serviced by imposing a preliminary injunction on enforcement of the admitting privileges requirement until this court can address its merits after trial… Even if there were some evidence that the admitting privileges requirement would actually further women’s health, any benefit is greatly outweighed by the burdens caused by increased travel, decreased access and, at least for some women, the denial of an in-state option for abortion services.”

You can read the injunction in it’s entirety over here.

Before Conley issued the injunction, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against the new law signed by our dickhead pal Gov. Scott Walker, who has long been of the opinion that women are basically house elves who happen to double as incubators for life. (Pictured above, pointing at your womb.)

The restrictions would have shuttered two of the four health centers that provide abortions in the state and severely cut the budget for another. The law will remain dormant as the lawsuit proceeds.

It’s just to kill time, obviously — like Wendy Davis’s filibuster, as awesome as it was — but for the moment, the vaginas of Wisconsin are free to roam and graze, uh, not freely per se, but at least the invisible electric fence is another few yards away for now.