Thin blue lines, p.6
Thin Blue Lines, page 6
These events are the foundations that The Unborn Child Protection Act series is built on. From here, we move into the dystopian future that may come to pass. History may diverge as the story unfolds.
In this universe, the state legislature declined to repeal or amend the 1849 Wisconsin Criminal Abortion Statute, which had been in place shortly after Wisconsin had been admitted to the Union as a state. The statute5 reads in part:
Any person, other than the mother, who does either of the following is guilty of a Class E felony:
(a) Intentionally destroys the life of an unborn quick child; or
(b) Causes the death of the mother by an act done with intent to destroy the life of an unborn child. It is unnecessary to prove that the fetus was alive when the act causing the mother’s death was committed.
A series of lawsuits were made against the state and individual legislators, claiming that the statute clearly stated abortion was legal before sixteen to twenty-four weeks of gestation when movement could be felt. Others pointed out that the statute allowed medicinal abortions, as the mother could voluntarily ingest medications that would end her pregnancy. The medications prescribed for this, mifepristone and misoprostol, are generally considered to be safe to use up to the eleventh week of pregnancy.
Due to legislative inaction, the legal question of abortion remained in place until the 2024 election. In response to retaining a veto-proof supermajority in both Assembly and the Senate, Republicans replaced the 1849 abortion bill with one that declared life began at conception and outlawed abortion if the pregnancy was viable. This included pregnancies due to rape or incest. Once a fetal heartbeat was detected, there were very few options available to protect the life of the mother.
In December 2024, a video captured a prominent pro-life state legislator’s daughter as she was transported by ambulance to Illinois to undergo a life-saving abortion following an unexpected complication late in her pregnancy. The video went viral and prodded the legislature to take action. The law was amended to include that ectopic pregnancies and specific instances where the embryo or fetus is determined to not be able to survive to be medically necessary.
It’s important to note that according to this legislation, the health and safety of the mother were secondary considerations. Women were routinely denied cancer treatment until after they had successfully delivered their babies and women died because care was delayed until their life was confirmed to be in danger. In addition, it did not include severe birth defects that would result in the newborn dying after birth.
Section 1 of the state constitution was amended to reinforce the state law that life began at conception: All people are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof.
By early 2025, the legal age of ‘adult’ in Wisconsin was standardized to occur at age twenty-one. Legally, anyone under the age of twenty-one was no longer allowed to vote in local or state elections, or to purchase alcoholic beverages, tobacco or CBD products, or even marry without parental consent.
A measure to raise the age of consent for statutory rape from age sixteen to eighteen was introduced. It was a difficult law to pass, but the need to protect children was heavily used in advertising and media talking points.
Wisconsin’s birth rate began to increase, straining the already shaky healthcare system. This especially impacted the poorest residents, who were unable to afford to travel outside of the state for abortions. More fathers found themselves taken to court for child support, but the standard guidelines remained paltry: only 17% of income for one child, 25% for two children, and 29% for three children. As child support did not cover all of the costs of raising a child, the number of fatherless families applying for FoodShare Wisconsin and other state support programs dramatically increased around the state.
Various tax measures were considered—and rejected—in response to the increased pressure on the state budget. Instead, the legislature passed a series of measures in early 2027 which were designed to reaffirm the core principle of ‘personal responsibility’. These included:
Act 292, also known as The Unborn Child Protection Act, which had been originally designed to allow pregnant individuals to be detained if they were suspected of substance abuse, was amended to allow unmarried, pregnant women to be taken into custody to determine if they posed a risk to their embryo, provided that a fetal heartbeat was detected.
Unborn citizens gestated by an unmarried woman, or one who was suing for divorce, automatically became a ward of the state. This was designed to prevent women from traveling outside of the state for an abortion.
Child support guidelines were replaced with one that called for each parent to contribute half of all offspring’s reasonable expenses until age twenty-one. The exception was if either parent was convicted of rape, or domestic violence, or was deemed to be a risk to the life and safety of the child. In this case, the convicted parent was responsible for 100% of their offspring’s reasonable expenses.
The Wisconsin Individual Family Education program, which had been a voluntary program designed to facilitate an unmarried couple’s transition to parenthood, was made mandatory under most circumstances. This included couples who were in the process of divorcing and those who were pursuing adoption after their child was born.
The ‘No Means No’ initiative changed all rape charges to state felonies. No misdemeanor charges remained in state statutes. Rape kits were required to be processed within seventy-two hours, or three calendar days, of the reported event, and the state’s attorney general was required to provide a quarterly report on the progress the state made in securing rape convictions.
Conservatives felt that these measures were a good start, but didn’t go far enough. A new bill was introduced to codify the idea that every child was entitled to have a father and a mother. Backers knew that they couldn’t force unwed couples to marry, but felt that cohabitation during the child’s first months of life might improve marriage rates.
Under the new law, unmarried couples were required to live together from the third trimester of pregnancy until the child was six months old. Courts could wave this for several reasons, including but not limited to a history of physical or emotional abuse, where rape is suspected but not reported, and in very limited child support and custody cases. In all things, the child’s needs were placed above the needs of the parents.
The state was immediately sued, and the case was fast-tracked to the Supreme Court. In anticipation of the conservative majority prevailing, staffing for family courts around the state greatly increased and the number of guardian ad litem positions tripled.
In May 2028, SCOTUS declined to hear the case and Wisconsin began immediately enforcing the new laws. And this is where Thin Blue Lines begins.
1. The Associated Press. June 22, 2022. https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-racial-injustice-gun-politics-e38479715c763a4972a85cc4003d73f9.
2. McCabe, Samantha. Here’s what to know about abortion access in post-Roe Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Radio, September 9, 2022. https://www.wpr.org/heres-what-know-about-abortion-access-post-roe-wisconsin.
3. Levine, Sam. Wisconsin senate supermajority win gives Republicans impeachment power, The Guardian, April 5, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/05/wisconsin-senate-supermajority-impeachment-power.
4. Doshi, J. (2024, March 26). What is the Comstock Act? The 151-year-old law mentioned in SCOTUS abortion pill case. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/what-is-comstock-act-supreme-court-abortion-pill-case/story?id=108395444
5. Wisconsin State Legislature Statute 904.04: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/940/i/04
There are two sides to every story
Curious about Sam's experience with the Wisconsin Individual Family Education program and Rylee's pregnancy? Here's the first chapter of The Fatherhood Mandate.
Sam stood on the rocky beach, watching the small waves lap against the monochrome shoreline. It was late August, but the wind coming off Lake Michigan was a bit chilly. Probably should have brought a jacket, he thought as he shoved his hands deep into his front pockets.
He kicked at the pebbles that littered the beach, then pulled his phone out of his back pocket to check the time. 8:10 am. It was too early for this shit.
Sam shaded his eyes as the sun momentarily poked through the somber clouds, then slid the phone back into his pocket and glared at the horizon. Of course, Rylee was late. She was always late.
He sighed. Rylee was the kind of girl that you could love one minute and hate the next. Bright blue eyes that just drew you in. Long black hair and a saucy smile. Curves in all the right places. She knew what to say, when to say it, and what it took to get her way.
And that was the problem. Rylee always got her way.
Not this time, Sam thought as he kicked at the sandy pebbles at his feet. No more meaningless late night texts. No more screaming fights over some imagined insult. No more scheduling and rescheduling his life around her ever-changing wants and needs. It was over. Done.
He heard her cuss as she stumbled across the damp rocks and pieces of driftwood that littered the beach, her complaints almost lost in the mindless hiss of the surf as she slowly made her way across the deserted beach. He ignored her.
“Sam, I’m cold,” Rylee said when she finally reached him. That telltale whine warned him she was already in a mood. “Can’t we go someplace else?”
Sam felt her tentatively reach for him. He pulled away and shoved his hands into his front pockets again. “Just tell me what you want, Rylee,” he said, eyeing the darkening clouds that threatened rain out over the lake. “We broke up. It’s over. There’s nothing more to say.”
“It’s really chilly out here,” she whimpered. “I can’t talk when I’m freezing to death!”
She sniffed as if she was holding back tears. He turned and one look was enough. Melodramatic expression. Bloodshot eyes. Blotchy skin from crying.
That was the last thing he needed that morning. “Let’s go,” he muttered. He grabbed her arm and forced her to walk toward the trail that threaded its way through the woods surrounding the beach behind them.
Sam felt her stumble over a small piece of driftwood and glanced down. Soft leather flats peeked out beneath a long dress that were more at home on a riverboat cruise than on sandy terrain. No matter how many times they’d been to Tietjen Beach, she just couldn’t take the hint and wear sensible clothes.
He released her arm as they slowly made their way through the overgrown trail to the stairs. Wild grapevines, goldenrod, and assorted weeds crowded the entrance to the limestone steps and made it almost impossible to reach the rough, wooden handrails as they climbed.
They approached the top of the bluff. Sam headed for one of the benches that used to overlook the beach below. Now, trees and small brush huddled against the hill, creating an almost impenetrable view.
He sat down. “Tell me what’s going on,” he asked as gently as he could. Sometimes it was easier to just go with it.
Rylee slumped onto a nearby bench. Almost on cue, tears started rolling down her cheeks. “We can’t break up, Sam,” she whispered. She brushed her long, black hair away from her face. “I need you.”
Sam turned away, staring at the clouds that randomly filtered through the foliage around him. It was definitely going to rain. He could smell it in the air.
“Rylee, it’s over.” Sam ducked his head, staring at the sandy ground. “You broke up with me. We’re done.”
“No!” Rylee stood, fists clenched, as she screamed at him. “You don’t understand. We made a mistake!”
Sam leaned back and wearily looked up at her. “How many times do we need to break up before you finally accept that it’s over, Rylee?” he asked, lightly mocking her. “Two more times? Five?” He searched her face for any bit of understanding. “Breaking up was your idea.” He paused for emphasis. “Both times!”
Rylee screwed her eyes shut and turned her face to the sky. “I was wrong,” she whispered. She opened her eyes and wiped her face with both hands. “Things have changed, Sam.”
“What things?” Sam demanded. “I’m really tired of this, Rylee! Tell me what’s going on!”
She sat down and slumped against the bench, covering her eyes with one hand. “It doesn’t matter, Sam,” she told him. “I’m probably worried about nothing.”
Sam sighed as he stood up. “Fine,” he growled. And, with that, he walked away, trying to ignore the quiet sobs behind him. He had better things to do than to deal with the drama queen.
Don't miss out on the first chapter of The Unborn Child Protection Act series. Get your copy of The Fatherhood Mandate today!
Acknowledgements
This novella would not exist without the support of a few great friends. So, many thanks to my Immersed OG: Ryan, Dave, Miguel, Jeff, Kris, Alex, Marius, Janusz, Stephane, Renji, Cassidy, James, Alan, Romeo, Caleb, Tim, Cliff, Ptom, Debbie, Ron, Hatty, Nitish, Rick, Christian, Zarellen, Jonathan, and of course, Heather and Steven.
A big shout-out to my local Neighborhood Engagement Officer, Specialist Steve Pipia. Your guidance and understanding of how Chapter 51.15 works resolved so many narrative issues. I deeply appreciate your help!
And, to my beta readers. Your feedback and support continue to inspire me. Keep it up, ladies!
About the author
M.E. is a Midwest native with a passion for delving into the realms of fiction and nonfiction. As a social scientist and writer, she starts each project with a simple question: 'What if…'
She loves diving into dystopian and speculative science fiction, where she doesn't shy away from the brutal realities of a world shaped by shifting ideologies. With a knack for social commentary and a talent for creating characters you can't help but root for (or against), she's all about crafting stories that make you think, laugh, and maybe even cringe a little.
On a personal note, M.E. prefers soda to pop, measure distance in the time it takes to get there, rather than in miles, and have been known to secretly cheer for the Bears even though she lives in Packer country.
M.E. Wright, Thin Blue Lines
