Skip to content

Thursday, Oct 29, 2026

Did Wisconsin governor candidate Tom Tiffany support a six-week abortion bill?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch

yes

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor, supported highly restrictive federal abortion legislation after voting for a Wisconsin law that generally allows abortion through 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The 2015 law that Tiffany voted for as a member of the Legislature prohibits abortion at 20 weeks postfertilization and after, except to protect the life or health of the mother.

But in 2023, as a member of Congress, Tiffany co-sponsored a bill to prohibit abortion in cases where a fetal heartbeat is detectable, generally six weeks. That legislation didn’t become law.

Campaigning for governor, Tiffany has said he would uphold the 2015 law.

The Democratic nominee in the Nov. 3 election, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, questioned Tiffany about his two positions in their only debate.

Tiffany replied: “My position’s been consistent ever since I announced for governor,” adding he would not sign fetal heartbeat legislation.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.

See all fact briefs

Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.

Learn More

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.