Madison doctor plans Rockford abortion clinics

Dennis Christensen, a Madison obstetrician-gynecologist who has provided abortions in Madison and Milwaukee, has purchased two clinic buildings in Rockford, Illinois to provide reproductive health services to Wisconsin women, according to a Wisconsin State Journal report. Christensen, who is now mostly retired, is part of a group working to provide the services and he plans to offer pill abortions at one site and surgical abortions at the other. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which had established a constitutional right to abortion, has caused local abortion providers to halt procedures as courts determine whether an 1849 Wisconsin law, which bans nearly all abortions, still stands. Abortions are legal in Illinois and Minnesota.