Clashes outside shuttered Wisconsin abortion clinic portray a fraying US

The scene outside the Affiliated Medical Services abortion clinic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is as vivid a portrait of a fraying US as you can get.

Two policemen stand at the clinic's doors, hoping to prevent further skirmishes between its staff and the group of pro-life activists standing outside.

Armed with placards of bloodied babies, some sing hymns, others chant "this is a day for victory" as they pace up and down outside.

Their victory is printed in black and white on the clinic's door, where a sign reads: "Due to the recent Supreme Court Decision, Affiliated Medical Services is no longer able to provide abortion care services."

The Supreme Court’s ruling to revoke nationwide abortion rights and leave the matter to each state has brought an abrupt halt to abortion services in Wisconsin.

It is one of 13 states with so-called "trigger laws" in place, meaning near-total abortion bans have come into effect.

Nine more states are expected to enact similar restrictions within weeks, leaving roughly half of US women without abortion access.

In the case of Wisconsin, the Supreme Court ruling has restored a law from 1849 which makes performing abortions a crime punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 (£8,000).

Procedures to save a woman's life are permitted, but there are no exceptions for rape or incest.

Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general Josh Kaul has said he will not enforce the state’s 173-year-old abortion ban.

But with local law enforcement now armed with the power to prosecute abortion providers, none feel able to continue operating.

As news of the Supreme Court ruling broke on Friday, AMS was one of several women’s clinics to immediately suspend abortion services.

But with local law enforcement now armed with the power to prosecute abortion providers, none feel able to continue operating.

As news of the Supreme Court ruling broke, Affiliated Medical Services (AMS) was one of several women's clinics in Wisconsin to immediately suspend abortion services.

Angry demonstrators

On Friday, hundreds of angry demonstrators lined the streets nearby, shouting "abortion bans have got to go" and "we will not go back".

But by Saturday morning, it was the pro-life activists who were the most visible presence on the city's streets.

As the pro-life activists celebrated, some holding posters praising God, passing motorists occasionally rolled their windows down to shout profanities in their direction.

One activist, a non-profit worker in her 30s, said she began wearing a body camera in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling out of fear of being attacked by demonstrators on the other side of the debate.

Timothy Bachleitner, 43, sang jubilantly as he walked outside AMS on Saturday.

Mr Bachleitner, accompanied by two of his nine children, said he had been coming to protest outside AMS and other abortion clinics for 13 years.

"But today was a little bit of a victory celebration," he said. "After 49 years and five months, the Supreme Court made the

“But today was a little bit of a victory celebration,” he said. “After 49 years and five months, the Supreme Court made the right decision and overturned Roe v Wade [the landmark 1973 ruling granting nationwide abortion rights].”

As he spoke to The Telegraph, another man walking by yelled: “The Supreme Court has no balls.”

Just three miles away, a Planned Parenthood clinic looked completely shuttered, with its doors bolted shut and the lights off inside.

Nearly 70 abortion procedures with Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin scheduled for Friday and Saturday had to be cancelled, the agency's Medical Director Kathy King said.

“Today, our daughters have less rights than their mothers, less rights than their grandmothers,” said Tanya Atkinson, president & CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

“This is absolutely unconscionable. People should be able to make their own health care decisions, it should not be political.”

Vowed to continue

Despite Wisconsin’s ban, the state’s abortion providers have vowed to continue their work.

While they cannot perform abortions themselves, they plan to help women travel to Wisconsin’s neighbouring states – Illinois and Minnesota – where abortions are still legal.

Lucy Marshall, president of Women's Medical Fund (WMF) in Madison, said her group has begun partnering up with clinics in both states to provide financial aid to women travelling out of state.

“WMF has been here since before Roe v Wade and we are here after. We are not going anywhere,” she said.

Wisconsin's Democratic Governor, Tony Evers, hopes to translate anger over the Supreme Court's decision into Democratic votes in this November's midterm election cycle.

"You can't ignore the fact that we now have politicians making decisions for women and their health care," Mr Evers said. "So we'll be talking about that a lot."

Wisconsin is a critical battleground that Joe Biden won by less than a percentage point in the 2020 presidential election, and a priority for Democrats in this year's state-wide races.

Mr Evers, who only narrowly won the governorship four years, hopes his bid to reinstate abortion access in the state will help him secure a second term.

"Any time you take half the people in Wisconsin and make them second class citizens, I have to believe there's going to be a reaction to that," he said.