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Employee who refused to work while ‘mourning’ Roe v. Wade fired

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A woke Universal Music Group worker claims he was fired for “speaking up” about abortion rights — after he admitted he refused to work because he was in “mourning” over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Michael Lopez, a production coordinator at Universal Music Enterprises, blasted the company as “anti-gay” for terminating a “queer brown person” during Pride Month for “speaking up in defense of abortion rights,” according to a lengthy note on LinkedIn that went viral last week.

“Last Friday, like countless other folks, I was devastated by the news of the supreme court’s [sic] attack on abortion rights,” Lopez wrote.

“Paired with the flood of anti-queer and anti-trans legislation, it’s been hard to process how company’s [sic] expect us to be productive while our rights are being stripped away.”

Lopez then went on to explain that each Friday “one of my tasks was to process reports for upcoming releases” and then to email his work to 275 people.

But instead of doing the usual process reports, he wrote an email that read: “I didn’t do them today.”

“I’m in mourning due to the attack on people with uteruses in the US. Federally guaranteed access to abortion is gone,” the email continued.

Lopez posted a lengthy update on LinkedIn that quickly went viral.
“Last Friday, like countless other folks, I was devastated by the news of the supreme court’s [sic] attack on abortion rights,” Lopez wrote.

“Vivendi and Universal Music Group must stop donating to anti-abortion, anti-queer and anti-trans politicians. Politicians like Marsha Blackburn, Ken Buck, Victoria Spartz, etc. Or expect more unproductive days,” he wrote, signing off with “Yours in fury, Michael Lopez.”

The Post has sought comment from Universal Music Group.

After sending the loaded email, Lopez said he received several supportive replies from co-workers — but was told by a manager to “take the rest of the day off.”

When he returned to work the following Monday, he said he was greeted with “a surprise Zoom video chat with HR.”

“I was being let go for (paraphrasing) ‘Not doing your job, disrupting the day of 275 people and poor judgement’,” Lopez wrote.

Lopez then said he sent a “follow up” to the email list, informing his colleagues.

“Just got fired for this email from Friday, so they’re letting you know where they stand on employees speaking out on politicians that support marginalization for folks like me,” he reportedly wrote, according to his lengthy LinkedIn post.

He opined: “A brown queer person terminated during Pride month speaking in support of abortion rights. Seems like that’s exactly what America is all about right now.”

Abortion-rights protesters demonstrate outside the Supreme Court on June 25.
AP
Protestors attempt to block a disrupter outside the Supreme Court.
Getty Images

Lopez’s note on LinkedIn went viral, generating more than 3,200 reactions, some 250 comments and more than 60 shares.

While some commenters were supportive, others were less sympathetic.

One LinkedIn user called Lopez “entitled, lazy, and obviously ignorant,” writing: “Yeah this is pretty pathetic…You a grown man pretending to have ‘grief’ so unbelievably unbearable over something that will never affect you in any way that you can’t perform a simple task at work.”

Another LinkedIn commenter wrote: “If you just sent the report like they asked every Friday… would you have lost your job? Most likely no.”

The commenter added: “You didn’t lose your job based on your color or sexual orientation so please stop thinking that. Your actions are childish cause for termination.”

Lopez’s protest echoed the sentiments of hundreds of people who have mobilized in the wake of the June 24 decision.
AFP via Getty Images

Another straight-shooting critic pointed out: “You made a stand based upon principle. But such stands come with consequences — that’s what makes them brave…I respect your decision to withhold your labor as a form of protest, but you left your employer little choice.” 

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Trust in Supreme Court falters after Roe decision

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PHOENIX — For most of her life, Marshelle Barwise viewed the U.S. Supreme Court as soberly dedicated to protecting the rights of all Americans, especially those who aren’t White men.

Then the court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Although Barwise personally opposes abortion, she disagreed with the rolling back of the nationwide right to an abortion and saw it as yet another example of how American democracy is broken.

“There’s so much divisiveness even within our own government, how can we trust it? Everything is so divisive,” said Barwise, 37, a new mom who works in financial sales and considers herself politically independent.

For years, she has dutifully voted, believing in a democratic system that’s supposed to represent everyone. Yet, she said, it seems as if a powerful few are making decisions that don’t match what a majority wants — or are failing to take any action at all.

“We have all gone through where we’ve heard people say all the right things, and then they get in a position of power, and they do everything opposite — or a segment, a small portion, just enough to appease or hopefully get reelected,” she said.

Your questions about the end of Roe, answered

With Congress gridlocked and presidents facing challenges when they act on their own, the Supreme Court — historically the most apolitical branch of government — has seemingly become the one most capable of quickly reshaping society.

Across the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, many people who oppose the abortion decision said they didn’t expect Roe to fall because it had been in place for nearly five decades and, while controversial, had woven itself into American society. It was considered settled law, so its sudden demise was unsettling for many — and made them worry about what could follow.

The ruling catapults abortion into a top issue in all three states, where races are underway for governor and U.S. Senate.

Although the court is supposed to focus on legal reasoning, not public opinion, the June 24 ruling does not match the views of most Americans. Fifty-six percent of adults opposed overturning Roe, according to a recent Marist College poll conducted with NPR and PBS NewsHour after the court issued its decision. Of those polled, 57 percent said they think the court’s decision was mostly based on politics, while 36 percent said they considered it mostly based on the law.

“They’re supposed to be unbiased. They’re supposed to look at the law as it is, instead of what political interests might have in mind,” said Timothy Oxley Jr., 31, a statistical programming analyst from Columbia, S.C., who was visiting Atlanta this past week. “They’re there to work for the people, not their own interests. And I feel like that’s what they’re doing more than anything these days.”

One year ago, 60 percent of adults approved of the job the Supreme Court was doing, according to a survey by Marquette University Law School. There was little difference between the views of Republicans and Democrats.

By May — soon after a draft of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion leaked — approval of the court had dropped by 16 points, to 44 percent, according to a follow-up survey by Marquette. That poll showed a dramatic partisan split, with 71 percent of Republicans approving but 28 percent of Democrats doing the same.

The abortion ruling came amid a string of high-profile decisions, including ones expanding gun rights and curtailing the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to curb carbon emissions. On Thursday, the court agreed to consider whether state lawmakers have the sole authority to determine how federal elections are run and where congressional district lines go.

With sweep and speed, Supreme Court’s conservatives ignite a new era

Many of the recent rulings issued — but especially the overturning of Roe — elated conservatives and enraged liberals, sparking protests and condemnation from lawmakers, celebrities, corporations and civic groups who said they worried the court was becoming another political branch of government. After the court spent decades expanding the rights of many Americans, including by allowing same-sex marriage and protecting voting rights, many were stunned to see a right rolled back.

“It’s just going to be really interesting to see what happens in terms of people’s respect for the Supreme Court going forward. I’ve always just held it in such reverence and don’t at this point,” said Emily Moore, a school speech pathologist from Middleton, Wis., who was outraged by the abortion decision.

Wisconsin clinics have stopped offering abortions because of an 1849 law that bars abortions unless the life of the woman is at stake. Gov. Tony Evers (D) has asked a court to invalidate that law. Moore, 59, said she is glad Democrats are fighting these restrictions, but she is pessimistic about the possibility for change in her state.

Wisconsin clinics have stopped offering abortions because of an 1849 law

“I vote every election, and I’m going to keep voting and keep trying,” she said. “I know that it might not make a difference, given how things are gerrymandered, but Democrats win statewide elections in Wisconsin, so every vote counts.”

While many liberals see the decision as one that tramples on a long-established right, many abortion opponents see it as one that has corrected a disastrous legal error.

Gary Schmitz, who has long gathered with other abortion opponents outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Madison, Wis., said he didn’t consider the latest decision to be any more political than Roe.

“That was political, too, if what we got now is political,” he said.

One of his compatriots, Julia Haag, said she saw the recent abortion decision much as Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 decision that overturned the 1896 ruling that allowed racial segregation in schools and other public places.

“They’ve gone back when they’ve made mistakes and righted it,” she said. “They needed to right this.”

Lailah Shima of Madison, Wis., said the court has been growing more political for decades, but the problem has worsened in recent years. She was frustrated in 2016 when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) refused to hold a hearing for President Barack Obama’s nominee to the court, Merrick Garland. She was further galled when McConnell put President Donald Trump’s three nominees on fast tracks.

“That was just like a blatant assault on democracy,” she said. “It was just ridiculous, right? It’s horrifying how they can pretend to be democratic.”

Jalissa Johnson, an Atlanta entrepreneur, said the abortion decision and one released Thursday that some say undermines Miranda rights concerned her as a Black woman. While Black Americans have made progress over the last century, she said, many still feel unrepresented by their government.

“We still are not equal,” she said. “And because that was not the agenda of our nation, in any sense, in this beginning. The purpose was to elevate White Americans or the White majority. So, fighting for equality is a … problem that we have today.”

Johnson said that she is “morally not a believer in abortion,” but she does “believe in freedom and the right to choose.” In Georgia, Republicans are trying to enforce a ban on abortions after about six weeks.

In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey (R) just signed into law a ban on abortions after 15 weeks, and Republicans may try to enact other restrictions. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) has said a law from the mid-1800s that makes it a crime to provide abortions could be applied.

“I feel like a lot of it goes back to race in the olden days, like they kind of want to go back to the 1900s where women were in the kitchen,” said Kacie Mearse, 20, a Democrat who was spending time with a cousin in Glendale, Ariz., the same afternoon that Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

Mearse doesn’t typically closely follow the court’s work but paid attention to the abortion ruling, which she views as a rollback of her rights. She doesn’t trust the court and thinks many justices prioritize their own political and religious beliefs over the broader American public.

“Everyone should be treated the same and have the same rights,” she said.

She added, “They don’t really care about me. They just care about themselves.”

Black women celebrate Jackson’s swearing in: ‘We needed this happy’

She felt more hopeful about the direction of the country in 2020, when she voted for Joe Biden for president and Mark Kelly for U.S. Senate. Nearly two years later, she feels as underrepresented as ever in Congress, an institution that feels far away and disconnected from her everyday life as a middle-school teacher.

She wishes lawmakers spent more time expanding rights for all Americans.

“Everyone is equal, and I feel like some people in the Congress and the government try to make some races and genders above everybody else,” she said.

Alfredo Gutiérrez, a former Democratic state Senate majority leader in Arizona, has fought for civil rights, most recently on behalf of undocumented immigrants, nearly all his 77 years.

It’s a cause that has taken him from the fruit fields of southern Arizona alongside Cesar Chavez in the late 1960s to the streets to help persuade voters to recognize Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a holiday in the early 1990s.

Along the way, Gutiérrez revered the Supreme Court for its tradition of expanding rights even as his admiration gave way to cynicism about the confirmation process.

Now, after the abortion ruling, he sees the court as a political instrument.

“At every step along the way, it has been a step of inclusion, it has been a step of bringing people into the circle to determine the future of this country,” he said. “And it has been a step of extending rights … to make equality the most common thread of our being as a country. And that’s why the court has, until now, remained the most admired, the most respected entity in all of governance in this country. And that’s what they destroyed.”

Gutiérrez worries about what the ruling could mean for the future of same-sex marriage, contraceptives and guns. He has lost hope that Congress can or will do anything to help.

His faith in the Democratic Party and its leaders has also worn away over time, deepening after Obama’s promise on comprehensive immigration reform was never fulfilled. After spending decades registering young people to vote, he stopped doing so during the 2020 election.

“I don’t believe in them anymore,” he said. “It’s cumulative — it’s got to hit you upside the head more than once before you conclude that there’s just no point in doing this.”

Marley reported from Madison, Wis., and Brown reported from Atlanta. Scott Clement contributed to this report.

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Men are rushing to get vasectomies after Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

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Thomas Figueroa always knew he didn’t want children. Growing up in Central Florida, he remembers his classmates getting pregnant as early as middle school, and had considered getting a vasectomy for the past few years.

But after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, he rushed to schedule one. He registered Monday for a vasectomy with Doug Stein, a Florida urologist known as the “Vasectomy King” for his advocacy of the procedure.

“It is something I put on the back-burner of my mind until very recently, when the Supreme Court decision happened,” said Figueroa, 27, who lives in Tampa. “That was basically the triggering factor right there. It pushed my mind to say: ‘Okay, I really do not want children. I’m going to get this vasectomy now.’ ”

Figueroa is not alone. Urologists told The Washington Post that they have seen a spike in requests for the procedure in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Stein said that before Friday, he received four or five vasectomy requests a day. Since the court’s decision was announced, that number has spiked to 12 to 18 requests per day.

“It was very, very noticeable Friday, and then the number that came in over the weekend was huge and the number that is still coming in far exceeds what we have experienced in the past,” Stein told The Post. “Many of the guys are saying that they have been thinking about a vasectomy for a while, and the Roe v. Wade decision was just that final factor that tipped them over the edge and made them submit the online registration.”

Some physicians are facing confusion and fear in a post-Roe world. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) joined several other professional organizations and medical journals in the past few days in warning that the ruling will affect health care beyond abortion, posing new risks for patients and possibly increasing maternal mortality. Doctors are concerned about the impact on situations including miscarriage and in vitro fertilization. The practice of medicine will be reshaped, the group said, or even contradicted “by laws not founded in science or based on evidence.”

Physicians face confusion and fear in post-Roe world

A vasectomy is a form of permanent sterilization that prevents sperm from flowing through the vas deferens and combining with semen. The National Center for Health Statistics reported that in 2002, the main reasons women provided as to why they were relying on a vasectomy as a form of birth control is that they or their partners already had all the children they wanted. But from 2011 to 2015, other reasons for relying on vasectomies, including medical reasons and problems with other types of birth control, became more common.

There has been a push for vasectomies in anticipation of Roe being overturned and antiabortion legislation taking effect in states across the country. Stein and other vasectomy proponents have taken to the streets and child support offices to encourage people to get the procedure.

Men across America are getting vasectomies ‘as an act of love’

Stein said his practice is booked through the end of August with vasectomy appointments, prompting him to open up more days in his schedule to accommodate patients who have recently registered. He and his associate, John Curington, said the decision overturning Roe has directly factored into their patients’ requests for vasectomies. Men under the age of 30 who do not have children are requesting vasectomies in greater numbers than before, the physicians said.

“I’d say at least 60 or 70 percent are mentioning the Supreme Court decision,” Curington said. “And a few of them have such sophistication as young men that they actually are thinking about Justice Thomas and his opinion that contraception may fall next. And that’s shocking. That’s something that doesn’t enter into our conversations ever, until this week.”

Amanda Omelian, 33, and her boyfriend, Eric Nisi, have also always known they didn’t want children. Nisi, 29, had been considering getting a vasectomy for the past few years, but said the Supreme Court decision is what prompted him to take the next step.

Omelian, who is from Homosassa, Fla., and is already on two forms of birth control, worries that Florida will soon restrict access to these contraceptives in addition to restricting abortion rights with its 15-week abortion ban that was recently passed. That led Nisi to register for a vasectomy Tuesday.

The sharp increase Stein’s practice has reported is consistent with what other urologists say they’ve seen since the draft of the Dobbs opinion was leaked last month.

Philip Werthman, a Los Angeles urologist, also reported a “300 to 400 percent” increase in the number of vasectomy consultations he has performed. Esgar Guarín, an Iowa-based urologist who trained under Stein and specializes in vasectomies, said he has seen a “200 to 250 percent” increase in traffic on his website offering information specifically about vasectomies.

Marc Goldstein, a urologist and director of the Center for Male Reproductive Medicine and Microsurgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, said he usually sees twice as many patients per week for vasectomy reversals compared to vasectomies.

“Now it’s the other way around,” he said. “So it’s been a dramatic shift. And this [decision] is only going to further impact that in terms of increasing requests.”

It isn’t the first time a significant news event has caused an uptick in vasectomies. Goldstein said vasectomy requests spiked after the Great Recession of 2008 as more men began to worry about raising additional children while under financial stress. When the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, there was also an increase in requests with more men working from home, Guarín said.

“When something like that in the news happens, we get a bump,” Guarín said, adding that he has seen a consistent increase in vasectomy requests per year. “The overall upward trend continues but the dramatic bumps don’t.”

The Affordable Care Act doesn’t require all insurance companies to cover the deductible for vasectomies, unlike women’s contraceptives, which are covered as “preventive services.” Nisi, who is between jobs and doesn’t have health insurance, said he is paying out-of-pocket for the procedure, which costs just under $600 at Stein and Curington’s practice.

Figueroa, an IT professional, said he also decided to pay out-of-pocket despite having health insurance from his employer.

“That’s no worry for me at all,” he said, adding that the ease of the procedure motivated him to get it done. “Birth control for a woman doesn’t really need to be necessary for something, in my opinion, that is as cheap and very quick.”

Urologists attribute the general increase in vasectomies to an evolution in attitudes among men.

Werthman emphasized that the recent uptick in vasectomy requests in California has come despite the fact that the right to an abortion in the state will probably remain unaffected by the Supreme Court decision. “If there’s any state in the country that is not going to allow abortion rights to be abrogated, I think it would be California,” he said.

Werthman, who performed vasectomies for two decades at Planned Parenthood, said he believes there has been a “change in the psyche of men,” and that they are more concerned about their role in family planning than they were previously.

Nisi said he doesn’t want Omelian, his girlfriend, to “stress over getting pregnant” because of a potential lack of access to birth control in the future. “The world is a scary place and you don’t know what’s coming, because it seems like we’re moving backward.”

Figueroa echoed the sentiment, saying what has unfolded in the days since last week acted as the final push he needed to register for the vasectomy he had long been considering.

“This is probably one of the very, very rare things in politics that actually does affect me very personally and very hard,” he said. “It really woke my eyes up.”

Ariana Eunjung Cha contributed to this report.

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The Senate races that could be impacted by end of Roe v. Wade

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Democrats and Republicans are split over how much impact the Supreme Court decision to strike down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case establishing a right to an abortion, will have on Senate races, but early polling shows it could make a difference in several key states.  

Republicans feel confident heading into November that President Biden’s low approval rating will help GOP candidates. But the court’s decision to take away a constitutional right that has existed for 50 years gives Democrats a powerful talking point.  

A poll of 800 voters in Senate battleground states conducted on behalf of Demand Justice, a progressive group that favors reforming the Supreme Court, found that Democrats are more focused on the court than Republicans, 69 percent to 60 percent, and liberals are more engaged on the court than conservatives, 73 percent to 63 percent.  

The poll, which was conducted by Hart Research Associates from June 7 to June 11, before the ruling overturning Roe, and released Tuesday, showed that 56 percent of voters wanted the court to uphold Roe, while 27 percent wanted to see it overturned.  

Here are six battleground states where the Supreme Court’s ruling could tip the scales in November:  

Wisconsin  

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund on Tuesday launched an advertising campaign in Wisconsin highlighting incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R) record on abortion rights. Recent polling shows he is essentially tied with his Democratic challengers.  

Johnson was one of a group of Senate Republicans who signed an amicus brief in July urging the courts to reconsider and overturn Roe, either completely or in part. The second-term senator has come under criticism for saying people should move if they don’t like abortion laws in their state.  

Abortions in Wisconsin are outlawed because of an 1849 law that remains on the books and went back into effect because of Friday’s Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.  

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said he will grant clemency to anyone charged under the 1849 law.  

Even so, clinics in the state suspended abortions on Friday after the ruling, and experts say that the risk of prosecution will put a significant chill on abortion services as patients and doctors could face prosecution down the road after Evers leaves office.  

Johnson’s general election opponent won’t be known until after the state primaries on Aug. 9.  

North Carolina  

Rep. Ted Budd, the Republican nominee for Senate, praised the court’s decision Friday as a “historic victory.”  

He also signed the amicus brief urging the courts to review and overturn Roe v. Wade and has praised the “creativity” of a Texas law that bans abortion at six weeks and empowers private citizens to enforce the law.  

Budd has called the Texas Heartbeat Act a “monumental step forward in the movement to protect unborn life.”  

North Carolina is among the states in the South with the strongest support for abortion rights, and abortion is legal there during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.  

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has the power to veto new abortion restrictions from the Republican-controlled legislature.  

A Meredith College poll of North Carolina voters conducted in April showed that nearly 53 percent of them wanted to keep abortion legal until the 24th week of pregnancy and 62 percent said it should be allowed at least until the 15th week of pregnancy.  

Higher Democratic turnout due to interest in abortion rights could help Senate Democratic candidate Cheri Beasley.  

Pennsylvania  

Gov. Tom Wolf (D) pledged at the start of the year to veto the six different anti-abortion bills introduced by Republican members of the general assembly, giving the battle over abortion rights a high profile heading into the November elections.  

Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz has campaigned as being 100 percent anti-abortion, but he supports access to abortion in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is in danger.  

Conservatives in Pennsylvania are also pushing a state constitutional amendment that would ensure the right to abortion is not enshrined in the state constitution, and GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano introduced a heartbeat bill in the state Senate in 2019 that would ban abortions after six weeks.  

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Senate, said in a statement: “The right to an abortion will be on the ballot this November in Pennsylvania.” 

Right now abortions are legal in the state up to 24 weeks.  

Arizona  

The three leading Republican candidates running to challenge incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D) have supported the court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, giving Democrats ammo in the fall.  

Arizona has a law dating back to 1901 banning abortion unless one is needed to save the life of a mother. And Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed a law in March banning abortion after 15 weeks, creating some confusion over which law would take precedent.  

Pro-abortion rights protesters held rallies in Phoenix, Flagstaff and Tucson after the court handed down its decision in Dobbs.  

Police fired tear gas at protesters outside the fenced-off state Capitol in Phoenix.  

A poll by OH Predictive Insights of more than 900 registered Arizona voters in May found that 41 percent said abortion should be legal under any circumstance, 46 percent said it should be legal in certain circumstances and 13 percent said it should be illegal in all circumstances.  

Three in 5 Arizona voters said they would be very or somewhat impacted by a candidate’s stance on abortion.  

Georgia  

Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a law in 2019 banning abortion after six weeks, one of the most restrictive in the country.  

That law has been on hold while courts waited to see the outcome of the Dobbs case, and now Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) is pushing for it to take effect  

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll conducted in January showed that more than two-thirds of Georgia voters and half of Republican voters opposed striking down Roe.  

Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker said in May that he wants to ban abortion without exception.  

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) voted last month to advance legislation to codify abortion rights.  

“We’re basically talking about a ton of races where the contrast is clear. Look at voters in Georgia. Nearly 70 percent of Georgia voters opposed overturning Roe and this is even stronger among Black voters. Eight-seven [percent] of Black voters in Georgia opposed overturning Roe. Seventy-four [percent] are against Georgia’s abortion act,” said Sam Lau, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood Votes.  

Nevada 

Senate GOP candidate Adam Laxalt said “Roe v. Wade was always wrongly decided” and called overturning the landmark abortion rights case “a historic victory.”  

Abortion rights, however, are strongly protected in Nevada, which codified them in law more than three decades ago.  

Nevadans voted for a referendum in 1990 allowing abortions within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.  

A poll of 770 registered Nevada voters in October found 69 percent lean pro-abortion rights while 31 percent consider themselves anti-abortion. 

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Illinois, Colorado, New York hold first elections since Roe overturned

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Eight states are holding primary or runoff elections on Tuesday, the first elections since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark case Roe v. Wade.

In Colorado’s 3rd House District, CBS News projected Rep. Lauren Boebert will win the Republican primary. Boebert, a controversial conservative freshman member of Congress, had former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. 

Trump loomed large over the race to be Colorado’s top elections official. The current Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, a Democrat, is unopposed in her primary. CBS News projected Pam Anderson wins the Republican nomination for secretary of state in Colorado. 

Anderson had faced two Republican challengers: Mike O’Donnell and Tina Peters. When asked by the Colorado Sun if the 2020 election was “stolen,” one of the candidates, Peters answered yes.

“This is a personal opinion based on the evidence that I have seen and gone through and based on what I know from our reports. I do believe there may have been enough fraud that it turned the election,” she told the newspaper.

In Colorado’s 3rd District, Don Coram (top left) is challenging Lauren Boebert (top right). In Illinois’ 15th District, Rep. Rodney Davis is challening Rep. Mary Miller. 

AP/Getty Images/Getty Images/Getty Images


Peters was indicted earlier this year in a security breach of her county’s election system. She has also been barred by a judge from overseeing the 2022 elections in Mesa County partly because of the breach,

One of her opponents, Mike O’Donnell, told the Colorado Sun he couldn’t “say yes or no” to the question of whether  the 2020 election was stolen. Anderson, a former Jefferson County clerk and recorder and the former executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, was the only GOP candidate to answer no.

In Illinois, redistricting has spawned some incumbent vs. incumbent races. CBS News projects Rep. Sean Casten will win the Democratic nomination, defeating a primary challenge from Rep. Marie Newman. Both have represented only portions of the newly-drawn 6th District, which is considered solidly blue. 

Casten’s 17-year-old daughter died earlier this month.  In a concession speech, Newman urged the party to come together. 

In Illinois’ 15th District, CBS News projected Rep. Mary Miller won the Republican nomination for the House seat. She had Trump’s backing race against another incumbent, Rep. Rodney Davis. Davis, who was one of the Republicans to vote to create a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. 

Over the weekend, Miller said at a rally – flanked by Trump – that the decision to overturn Roe was a “victory for White life by the Supreme Court.” Her campaign said she misread the prepared remarks. 

Davis conceded Tuesday night to Miller, saying he looks forward to “campaigning with every Republican up and down the ticket across Illinois between now and November to ensure we take back our state and take back Congress.”

A co-chair of Trump’s 2020 campaign, Davis congratulated Trump and Miller on the win. He was also one of the Republicans who worked to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, although that commission was later abandoned, and Democrats created a select committee instead. 

In the governor’s race, CBS projected incumbent Gov. J.B. Pritzker won the Democratic primary.

In the Republican primary, CBS News projected Illinois Darren Bailey defeated Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, who was funded by $50 million from GOP megadonor Ken Griffin. Griffin has said he would not back the Republican nominee if it is not Irvin and criticized Democratic groups for their outside spending to boost Bailey. “The unprecedented tens of millions of dollars spent by Pritzker and national Democrats in the Republican Primary to avoid facing Richard in the General Election demonstrated he was the right candidate,” Griffin said in a statement.In his concession speech, Irvin said he hoped Pritzker “is wrong in his assessment that he can easily defeat the opponent he paid tens of millions of dollars to face.”

In New York, CBS News projects New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will win the Democratic nomination for governor. She had two primary challengers: Rep. Tom Suozzi from Long Island and New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams.

CBS News projected Rep. Lee Zeldin will win the Republican nomination for governor. Zeldin, from eastern Long Island, faced  three challengers, Rob Astrorino, Harry WIlson and Andrew Giuliani, the son of Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. 

In Utah, two-term Republican Sen. Mike Lee, one of Trump’s closest allies, beat two primary challengers, former state lawmaker Becky Edwards and businesswoman Ally Isom. Neither  voted for Trump, according to The Associated Press. Lee will face independent conservative Evan McMullin in November. Utah’s Democratic Party has thrown its support behind McMullin, a longtime Trump critic, rather than putting up candidate of its own.

Republican Mike Flood wins special election for House in Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District. Flood will serve the remainder of Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s term. Fortenberry was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation for lying to federal authorities about an illegal campaign contribution.  

Flood defeated Democrat Patty Pansing Brooks in the special election. Both candidates won their respective primaries to seek a full term and will face each other in a rematch in November.  

Musadiq Bidar contributed to this report. 

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Rudy Giuliani slapped on back ‘over politics’ following Roe decision

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Rudy Giuliani was mingling with people at a Staten Island grocery store on Sunday when an employee approached the former New York mayor, slapped him on the back and called him a “scumbag,” according to police.

Now, that ShopRite employee, 39-year-old Staten Island resident Daniel Gill, has been arrested and charged with assault of someone 65 or older — a felony, a New York Police Department spokesman told The Washington Post. Gill, who could not be reached for comment, was in custody as of Sunday night, the spokesman said. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney.

Giuliani, who was former president Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, did not respond to a request for comment.

Speaking on “The Curtis Sliwa Show” after the incident, Giuliani said he was at ShopRite campaigning for his son, a Republican candidate for New York governor, when “all of a sudden I feel a shot on my back — like somebody shot me.”

“I went forward, but luckily I didn’t fall down,” Giuliani said. “Lucky, I’m a 78-year-old who’s in pretty good shape, because if I wasn’t, I’d have hit the ground and probably cracked my skull.”

Giuliani then claimed the worker referenced abortion rights, allegedly adding: “You’re going to kill women. You’re going to kill women.”

Surveillance video of the incident, published by the New York Post, shows a man in a billed cap walk up from behind Giuliani and slap him on the back. A woman immediately puts her arm around Giuliani as the man walks past the former mayor and his supporters and down another aisle.

The video has no sound, but the NYPD spokesman said Gill asked, “What’s up, scumbag?” when he approached Giuliani. The incident took place just before 3:30 p.m., and Giuliani was not seriously injured, the spokesman said.

ShopRite did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post late Sunday. In a statement to WCBS, a representative acknowledged that an incident took place between Giuliani and a store associate at a Staten Island location.

“Store security observed the incident, reacted swiftly and the police were notified,” the representative said. “We have zero tolerance for aggression toward anyone.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Giuliani said he took the employee’s remarks to be “political,” a reference to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, which protected the constitutional right to abortion. Police did not specify whether the suspect referenced abortion or the Supreme Court decision.

Throughout his political career, Giuliani has wavered on the issue of abortion rights. On his weekly radio show Sunday before the grocery store incident, Giuliani said he was “adamantly” against abortion during a discussion on the Supreme Court decision.

But as New York mayor, Giuliani was a supporter of abortion rights, even signing a proclamation celebrating the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Tampa Bay Times and CNN reported. Moreover, Giuliani donated to Planned Parenthood at least six times in the 1990s, Politico reported in 2007, when Giuliani was seeking the GOP presidential nomination.

It was during that campaign that Giuliani’s stance on the issue came under scrutiny, as the candidate said repeatedly that he personally opposed abortion but believed it was an “emotional decision that should ultimately be left up to the woman,” his spokeswoman told Politico at the time.

Amid pressure, Giuliani decided to firmly support abortion rights during the campaign, making him an outlier among his Republican opponents, the New York Times reported.

On his show Sunday, Giuliani called his prior stance “very childish and immature” and said that he has gone through a “torturous intellectual and emotional and moral situation with abortion,” now saying he is against abortions.

Even as Giuliani faces scrutiny for his unfounded claims of fraud following the 2020 presidential election results, he is using his political brand in certain enclaves of New York to help boost his son’s bid for governor.

Andrew Giuliani is test-driving his father’s legacy in New York

Andrew Giuliani, who praised the Supreme Court decision Friday, condemned the alleged assault on his father in a tweet Sunday night, adding that it was “over politics.”

“We will not be intimidated by left wing attacks,” he wrote. “As governor I will stand up for law and order so that New Yorkers feel safe again.”



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Business

Companies React to the Fall of Roe V. Wade

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Welcome back, readers. Jordan Parker Erb here, writing to you from New York. Companies in the tech world and beyond are responding to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Let’s get started.

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1. Companies are responding to the Roe v. Wade decision. The Supreme Court on Friday struck down Roe v. Wade, effectively cutting off abortion access in many parts of the US. Here’s a look at how the tech industry is responding:

  • Amazon, which has previously said it will cover costs for employees seeking abortions in states where the procedure was made illegal, told staff to “be respectful of everyone’s perspectives” after some celebrated Roe’s defeat on internal Slack channels.
  • On Friday, Meta told its workers not to discuss the ruling on its internal system, and deleted messages that did so, The New York Times reported. Meta has also said it will reimburse employees traveling out of state for reproductive care.
  • Meanwhile, in the dating world, singles are using OkCupid’s “pro-choice” profile badge to match with like-minded individuals. The company told Insider it will “unapologetically support this issue.”
  • Tech firms are under pressure to protect users’ information, as law enforcement could pursue access to history, geolocation, and other related data. Period and fertility tracking apps like Flo are taking steps to make the identity of users anonymous. 

See how other top businesses have responded to the ruling.

In other news:





Yasin Ozturk/Getty Images


2. Job cuts are underway at Tesla. As the company begins imposing the cuts previously announced by Elon Musk, workers who started only months — or even weeks — ago have been let go, while others are seeing their offers withdrawn. Tesla employees have described being laid off.

3. Getir insiders worry the ultrafast delivery startup won’t survive the year. Workers at the $12 billion startup describe a company that churns through staff, sends delivery people to the ER, and has “zero” chance at profitability. What workers told us about Getir’s grueling internal culture.

4. Instagram is testing using face scans to confirm users’ ages. In the trial, users who want to prove they are older than 18 can either upload a photo of their ID, ask three mutual friends to verify their age, or record a video selfie. What we know about the trial.

5. We spent a week at the Coachella of NFTs. Despite the crypto market downdraft, the NFT.NYC conference held last week was booming: Yacht parties were plentiful, VIP tickets sold for $1,999, and celebrities and CEOs mingled with guests. Get an inside look at NFT.NYC.

6. Bill Gates has apparently purchased a $13.5 million potato farm — and locals aren’t pleased. North Dakotans are outraged over the purchase, and the state’s attorney general’s office is looking into it. Here’s the latest.

7. Doorsey, a real estate startup backed by Adam Neumann, laid off more than half its staff. After struggling to raise new funding as venture investors pull back, Doorsey reduced its staff from 24 to nine people, a spokesperson confirmed. Get the rundown on Doorsey’s layoffs.

8. You only have a few more weeks to watch these shows on Netflix. The streamer just announced which movies and series will be leaving in July, and they include classic films like “Forrest Gump” and series like “30 Rock.” Here’s everything leaving Netflix next month.

Odds and ends:





Mercedes-Benz


9. An electric Mercedes-Benz drove 747 miles without recharging. The Vision EQXX, Mercedes-Benz’s electric concept car, beat every electric vehicle on sale today — traveling nearly twice the range of Tesla’s Model S without charging. Check out the Vision EQXX.

10. Tired of the same old Slack notification? We explain how to change it. For many, the default


Slack

 notification noise comes with a feeling of dread. But with a number of different options (including someone saying “hummus”), you can change the sound so it doesn’t haunt your dreams.

What we’re watching today:

Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.

Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.



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Entertainment

Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monoe and more address Roe v. Wade at BET Awards

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Henson first thanked opening performer Lizzo for pledging $1 million to Planned Parenthood before using the singer’s song titled, “About Damn Time” to make a point.

“It’s about damn time we step into our power,” Henson said. “It’s about damn time we talk about the fact that guns have more rights than a woman. It’s a sad day in America.”

“A weapon that can take lives has more power than a woman who can give life if she chooses to,” Henson added.

That sentiment was on the minds of many women in the entertainment industry around the world. At the Glastonbury music festival in England over the weekend, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and several other artists blasted the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday, which overturned a woman’s constitutional right to end a pregnancy after nearly half a century.

At the BET Awards, singer and actress Janelle Monáe presented the first award of the night, best female/R&B artist, and hailed Black artists – women in particular.

“Owning our truth and expressing ourselves freely and unapologetically in a world that tries to control and police our bodies, my body and our decisions,” she said. “My decision. F*** you, Supreme Court.”

Jazmine Sullivan won the award and during her acceptance speech addressed the men of the world.

“It’s a hard time right now for us [women] and I want to speak directly to the men,” Sullivan said. “We need y’all. We need y’all to stand up for us, stand up with us. If you’ve ever benefited from a woman making one of the toughest decisions of her life, which is to terminate a pregnancy, you need to be standing with us.”

“This is not just a woman’s issue,” she said. “This is everybody’s issue. And we need you more than ever.”

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US

Roe v Wade: Efforts underway to protect abortion rights as nation adjusts to Supreme Court’s reversal of the landmark ruling

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In all, 26 states have laws that indicate they could outlaw or set extreme limits on abortions, effectively banning the procedure in those states, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.

Georgia already has its own restrictive law that bans abortions when a “fetal heartbeat” can be detected at about six weeks into a pregnancy. That legislation, passed and signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, was suspended by a federal court in Atlanta, but is now set to take effect.

On Sunday, Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is challenging Kemp in this year’s gubernatorial election, acknowledged the six-week ban will be Georgia’s “law of the land” within days.

Live updates: Roe v. Wade latest news

“That is horrendous, that is appalling an it is wrong. As the next governor, I’m going to do everything in my power to reverse it,” Abrams told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

Abrams called on President Joe Biden do “do what is within the purview of the executive” to mitigate the effect of the court’s ruling, but focused her message on broader, federal legislative action. “There should be federal law that allows women to have these choices, to have reproductive choice and reproductive justice,” she said.

That, however, is extremely unlikely given the makeup of the Senate, where Democrats hold a razor-thin majority and lack the votes to overcome the filibuster, a procedural hurdle that requires 60 members to bring such a measure to the floor for an up-or-down vote.

In the meantime, other Democrats are taking a more DIY approach to what many have described as a national health crisis. Since the ruling came down on Friday morning, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has raised an estimated $400,000 for abortion rights groups — including tens of thousands during a widely-viewed Instagram Live late on Saturday evening, a spokeswoman told CNN.

Ocasio-Cortez, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning, also suggested Biden expand access to abortion through a variety of means, including the opening of clinics on federal lands inside states that have or plan to enact bans, and to use the tools of the executive and federal agencies to help make medical abortion, through pills obtained via the mail, more easily accessible.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren offered a similar plan of action during an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” saying the federal government should consider every available legal path to mitigate the new bans and aid states where women are expected to travel to seek legal abortions.

Advocacy groups, meanwhile, are pressing ahead with new legal arguments within the states — in some cases digging into their own laws for potential avenues to slow or upend new restrictions.

In Utah, which is among the states that moved quickly to ban most abortions following Friday’s ruling, Planned Parenthood has already filed a lawsuit against the state’s top leaders, claiming its newly enacted law violates multiple civil liberties codified in the state’s constitution.

Performing an abortion in Utah under its ban is now a second-degree felony in nearly all cases, according to the lawsuit, which names the governor and the attorney general among the defendants. (The Utah law allows for abortion in three circumstances — where there is danger to the mother’s health, uniformly diagnosable health conditions detected in the fetus or when the mother’s pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.)

The lawsuit argues the new abortion law violates multiple rights protected under Utah’s constitution, such as the right to determine family composition and equal protection rights, among others. It also says the law has a disparate impact on women as opposed to men, and violates the right to bodily integrity, involuntary servitude, as well as the right to privacy.

“When the Act took effect, PPAU (Plaintiff Planned Parenthood Association of Utah) and its staff were forced to immediately stop performing abortions in Utah beyond those few that are permitted by the Act. If relief is granted in this case, PPAU’s health centers would resume providing abortions that would not qualify for any of the Act’s exceptions,” the lawsuit reads.

CNN has reached out to Gov. Spencer Cox’s office for comment on the lawsuit but did not receive a response Saturday. Attorney General Sean D. Reyes’ office told CNN it had no comment on the lawsuit.

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vowed to “fight this decision in every way we can with every power we have,” after his Republican-controlled state legislature declined to repeal the state’s 1849 law banning abortion, which is taking effect again following the Supreme Court ruling.

“Our office is reviewing today’s decision and will be providing further information about how we intend to move forward next week,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement Friday.

Dozens of prosecutors from blue cities and states have also released a signed statement saying they will not prosecute abortion providers or patients — an early sign that calls for civil disobedience will also find a home with some law enforcement officials, many of whom have discretion in their enforcement practices.

In a letter published by the advocacy group Fair and Just Prosecution, 83 elected prosecutors said they would not use official resources “to criminalize reproductive health decisions.”

“Our legislatures may decide to criminalize personal healthcare decisions, but we remain obligated to prosecute only those cases that serve the interests of justice and the people,” the prosecutors wrote. “Criminalizing and prosecuting individuals who seek or provide abortion care makes a mockery of justice; prosecutors should not be part of that.”

NYC Pride shows solidarity with abortion rights movement

Demonstrators both for and against the high court’s decision have been taking to the streets this weekend in small towns and big cities across the nation.

At Sunday’s Pride parade in New York City, organizers expressed solidarity with the abortion rights movement by announcing a contingent from Planned Parenthood would be the first group on the route.

Many of the marchers waved Pride flags or held bright pink signs that said, “I stand with Planned Parenthood,” and chanted, “We won’t back down.”

The annual Pride march tracked some of the same streets that demonstrators marched on Friday night and into the weekend, when New Yorkers and visitors to the city — some of them canceling plans to take part — joined together to protest against court’s ruling.

The scenes in Manhattan followed 48 hours of almost uniformly peaceful protests, though some cities announced small numbers of arrests.

Police in Virginia are also investigating an alleged act of vandalism at pregnancy center in Lynchburg.

Officers responded to a call Sunday where they found broken windows and messages — including, “If abortion ain’t safe you ain’t safe” — spray-painted at the site.

“Security camera footage shows four masked individuals committing the acts,” police said in a statement.

A day earlier, hundreds of people gathered in Greenville, South Carolina, in response to the ruling. At least six people were arrested at the rally, which included people protesting and supporting the ruling.

Emily Porter, 23, told CNN she was protesting the ruling when she saw police take a woman to the ground after she stepped down from a sidewalk and walked across the street.

“I felt very angry to watch them take an older woman to the ground,” Porter told CNN. “If they wanted to detain her, they could have done it in a respectful manner.”

After the woman was tackled, several people left the sidewalk to come to her aid, prompting police to detain them, Porter said.

“I’d never thought I’d be in the middle of all this,” Porter told CNN. “I was angry, I was afraid and I was confused.”

Greenville police said neither Tasers nor pepper spray was used during the arrests and authorities would review the incident.

In the nation’s capital, police arrested two people Saturday after they were accused of “throwing paint over the fence by the U.S. Supreme Court,” US Capitol Police tweeted.

In New York City, at least 20 people were “taken into custody with charges pending” during the initial round of protests against the ruling, police said. No further details were provided on the arrests.

On Friday night in Phoenix, law enforcement used tear gas to disperse a crowds of protesters who were demonstrating in front of the state Senate.

Protecting reproductive rights

As some states move to restrict abortion rights, others are taking steps to better protect and expand abortion access and funding.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz issued an executive order Saturday providing protections for people who travel into the state for reproductive health care from states where abortion is illegal or criminalized, his office said.

“Our administration is doing everything we can to protect individuals’ right to make their own health care decisions,” he said in a statement.

The announcement comes as Red River Women’s Clinic — the only clinic that performs abortions in nearby North Dakota — is preparing to move its services to Minnesota. North Dakota is one of many states that have trigger laws on the books aiming to ban abortion following the Supreme Court ruling. Its law will go into effect 30 days after the ruling is certified by the state’s attorney general.

Also Saturday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee promised to create a “sanctuary state” for reproductive choice for people across the country.

In doing so, Inslee announced an upcoming executive order that will direct state police not to comply with extradition efforts from other states seeking to penalize those who travel to Washington to receive an abortion. He didn’t specify when the executive order will be released and or when it will take effect.

CNN’s Jalen Beckford, Sonnet Swire, Hannah Sarisohn, Sharif Paget, Claudia Dominguez, Keith Allen, Sara Smart, Kate Conerly and Andy Rose contributed to this report.

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US

Latest Abortion and Roe v. Wade News: Live Updates

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Abortion has become or will soon become illegal in more than a dozen states whose legislatures had passed so-called trigger laws, allowing for bans shortly after the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade on Friday.

But abortion rights are also in jeopardy in other states because of older bans criminalizing abortion, some of which were written before the Civil War. Though the bans were considered dormant after the Roe decision in 1973, they were never repealed by state legislatures — and could now be enforced. Two of the states, Michigan and Wisconsin, have Democratic governors who favor abortion access and polling that shows a majority of residents do, too. But their Republican-controlled legislatures have shown no interest in repealing the old laws.

“Every district attorney in the state is going to be empowered to potentially investigate miscarriages to test the limits of the law and see if they can put doctors in prison,” said State Senator Kelda Roys, a Democrat in Wisconsin. “It makes things very difficult for health care providers. It unleashes a whole host of terrible circumstances.”

The sudden importance of laws that were written before women had the right to vote has sent legislators, activists and abortion providers scrambling to understand the implications. In Wisconsin, clinics in Milwaukee and Madison had already paused scheduling appointments for abortion procedures next week in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling; after its decision came on Friday morning, all of the state’s clinics stopped providing abortions entirely.

Ismael Ozanne, the Dane County district attorney, signaled on Friday that he would not enforce the Wisconsin law that criminalized abortion, a suggestion that a patchwork situation could develop in which abortion is prosecuted differently from county to county.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, eight states still have abortion bans on the books that predate Roe v. Wade, but some have more recent bans that would most likely take precedence. In recent years, states including New Mexico, Vermont and Massachusetts have removed old bans.

Credit…Andy Manis/Associated Press

In Michigan, where a law from 1931 bans abortion, the battle is already playing out in the courts. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit in April asking the Michigan Supreme Court to resolve whether the State Constitution protects the right to abortion. A Michigan judge issued an injunction in May that stops the ban from being enforced, at least temporarily, until a separate lawsuit is resolved.

On Friday, Ms. Whitmer called the 1931 law “antiquated,” noting that it does not provide exceptions for rape or incest. “The 1931 law would punish women and strip away their right to make decisions about their own bodies,” she said in a statement.

Ms. Whitmer has vowed to veto legislation that would restrict abortion. The Michigan Legislature has a Republican majority but not one large enough to be likely to override a veto.

There is also a pre-Roe ban in West Virginia, but experts said it was unclear whether that or newer state laws that put fewer restrictions on abortion would take effect. The state’s attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, said in a statement on Friday that he would soon “be providing a legal opinion to the Legislature about how it should proceed to save as many babies’ lives as humanly and legally possible.”

Arizona, Alabama and North Carolina also have older abortion laws on the books, but more recent restrictions passed in those states could take precedence, such as a total ban on abortion that became law in Alabama in 2019 but was superseded by Roe until now.

In Wisconsin, both sides are preparing for lawsuits and political battles over whether the abortion ban, which has been unenforceable since Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in 1973, will result in prosecutions.

“The future of this old law will be determined in our state courts and our state political system,” said Mike Murray, the vice president of government and external affairs for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “On a practical level, there is going to be litigation requesting clarification from our state courts about whether or not the 1849 law is enforceable.”

Gracie Skogman, the legislative director for Wisconsin Right to Life, said she hoped the 1849 law “is enforceable and saves lives here in Wisconsin, but we also do expect that there will be legal challenges.” On Friday, the organization said “Wisconsin is in powerful position to defend preborn life due to our pre-Roe statute.”

Under the ban in Wisconsin, doctors who perform abortions can be found guilty of a felony. It includes exceptions for an abortion that is necessary to save the mother’s life, but does not make exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

Laws banning abortion in the 19th century were typically the result of an effort to regulate how medicine was practiced, which medicines could be distributed and who was providing drugs that could cause abortion, historians said. The laws tended to ban abortion only after “quickening” — a point about midway through pregnancy when a woman can feel a fetus move in the womb.

James Mohr, a professor at the University of Oregon whose book “Abortion in America” details the history of abortion in the United States, said 19th-century laws banning abortion were passed not for political reasons, but because of pressure from elite physicians, who were concerned that people who called themselves doctors were performing abortions without training.

“It’s very hard for Americans to wrap their mind around the fact that abortion was simply not a public issue in the 19th century,” he said. “It was not discussed in public, it was not political, it was not politicized.”

After states passed abortion bans, he said, “It would appear that the practice of abortion continued just about the way it always had.”

“The same number of pregnancies as a percentage continued to be terminated,” he continued. “Prosecutors almost never brought prosecutions under these laws because juries wouldn’t convict.”

Lauren MacIvor Thompson, an assistant professor of history and interdisciplinary studies at Kennesaw State University in Georgia who studies abortion history, said that recent laws banning abortion were far more restrictive than those passed well over a century ago.

“By and large, many of the laws passed in the 19th century were more lenient and often did not punish the woman,” she said. “That is shifting rapidly.”

Credit…Matthew Dae Smith/Lansing State Journal, via Associated Press

Past efforts to repeal the 1849 law in Wisconsin have fizzled, even when the Democratic Party controlled both the governor’s office and the Legislature, and there was little push from the public to overturn it.

“I hadn’t heard much about the ban until quite recently,” said Jenny Higgins, a professor of gender and women’s studies and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. “Folks didn’t really believe that overturning Roe was possible, or palatable, until recently.”

Wisconsinites have indicated in recent polls that they favor keeping abortion legal. In a recent poll conducted by Marquette Law School, 58 percent of state residents said abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

This past week, Gov. Tony Evers convened a special session in the Legislature to pressure lawmakers to repeal the abortion ban. A ring of protesters in pink shirts gathered at the Statehouse in Madison, their chants ricocheting under the dome of the Capitol building.

But Republicans, who hold a majority in the State Senate, ended the session almost as quickly as it began, without a vote or discussion. Robin Vos, the speaker of the Assembly, posted on Twitter on Friday that “safeguarding the lives of unborn children shouldn’t be controversial.”

Mr. Evers, who is running for re-election in November, condemned the Republican lawmakers after the session, saying they had jeopardized access to health care.

“Republicans’ refusal to act will have real and severe consequences for all of us and the people we care most about who could see their ability to make their own reproductive health care decisions stripped away from them,” Mr. Evers said in a statement.

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