Wisconsin Fetal Remains Bill (AB 252)

AB 252 would require a physician who performs or induces an abortion to arrange for the final disposition of the fetal remains resulting from the abortion.

The bill expressly provides that a physician is not required to discuss the final disposition of the fetal remains with the mother before performing or inducing an abortion, and is not required to obtain authorization from the mother for the final disposition of the fetal remains upon completion of the abortion.

Pro-choice activists are concerned that such bills may require women who miscarry or experience still-births to make on-the-spot decisions about what to do with the fetus (burial, cremation, etc.), and would add to the trauma of an already traumatic experience. (Source.) Anti-choice campaigners have been fixated on the desire to properly dispose of fetal remains and to produce “memorials” for embryos and fetuses that they claim to have “rescued” or found in dumpsters or abortion clinics. (Source.)

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