Act 217 has caused the state's only other medication abortion provider to also stop offering RU-486 abortions.

Affiliated Medical Services in Wisconsin has announced that it will no longer provide abortions via RU-486 due to the ambiguity and uncertainty of the state’s Act 217, which regulates the means of providing a medication abortion. With AMS no longer offering the drug, it is now impossible to receive a medical abortion from a provider in the state.

NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Executive Director Lisa Subeck commented via press release:

“Elections matter. As long as Scott Walker occupies the Governor’s office, women will continue to lose ground on health care options. The environment created by Walker and anti-choice Republicans in the State Legislature is so hostile that abortion providers are no longer able to provide care to women.” “Wisconsin women will suffer because of Governor Walker’s actions. It is unacceptable that women are losing health care options because Walker has put his extreme social agenda ahead of what is best for women’s health. Women lose out when out of control politicians like Scott Walker practice medicine without a license and interfere in the relationship between doctors and their patients.” Sex. Abortion. Parenthood. Power. The latest news, delivered straight to your inbox. SUBSCRIBE

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin stopped medication abortions on April 20th, also citing Act 217 as too ambiguous to allow their providers to dispense the drug. Public Policy Director Nicole Safar had explained, “The legislature is actually dictating patient care, and we are working with our lawyers to see how this effects medical best practices and procedures. With the law going in effect today, it is too risky to have our doctors do this.”

Dr. Fredrik Broekhuizen, a Wisconsin Medical Director and Boardmember of Physicians for Reproductive Health and Choice, had expressed concerns at the time that Act 217 would eventually eliminate the ability to provide medication abortions in the state, as doctors struggled between following state law or approved medical protocol. “If we follow the FDA rules and follow protocol, we would violate this law. And we have no ability to defend ourselves.”

AMS’s website now urges women to contact Governor Scott Walker and the state legislature to “express your frustration.”