This is why non-regular, non-presidential, non-midterm elections count. On Wednesday, the state of Wisconsin's Supreme Court ruled that a 176-year-old law banning abortion was no longer valid. The vote was 4-3 to overturn the 1849 law,

State lawmakers adopted the ban in 1849, making it a felony when anyone other than the mother “intentionally destroys the life of an unborn child.”

Hundreds of municipalities use Badger Book, but big cities that adopt the technology would likely have to have their own support staff.

Such a path could drastically raise the stakes for federal investigations of state or county officials, bringing the department and the threat of criminalization into the election system.

Abortion providers in the state resumed the procedure in 2023 after a judge ruled that a more recent law superseded the 176-year-old ban.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Republican prosecutors in Wisconsin said they intended to enforce the old law.