ProLifeWi: Bill to prohibit University of Wisconsin abortions being circulated

State Rep. Andre Jacque (R-DePere) and State Sen. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) are currently circulating a bill that would prohibit both UW System and UW Hospital and Clinics Authority employees from performing or assisting in the performance of abortions while in the scope of their employment.

This bill, LRB-0916/2, would effectively end UW medical resident abortion training at the Madison Planned Parenthood abortion facility, a grisly arrangement that stains the reputation of Wisconsin’s public university system and flagship hospital.

In 2010, an open records request by Pro-Life Wisconsin and Alliance Defending Freedom revealed that since 2007, more than $58,000 of UW hospital authority funds had been used to train future abortionists at the Planned Parenthood in Madison.

The UW hospital authority paid physician medical residents in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health Ob/Gyn Department for two four-week rotations at Planned Parenthood, where they viewed and performed abortions with the oversight and assistance of department faculty.

In 2011, Gov. Scott Walker signed Act 32, the state biennial budget, which amended Wis. Stat. 20.927 to explicitly include the UW hospital authority as a “state agency” prohibited from funding abortions. In effect, this prohibited the UW hospital authority from continuing payments for medical residents performing abortions at the Madison Planned Parenthood.

However, the contractual agreement between the UW and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin was renewed in a 2012 memorandum of understanding in which reimbursement for abortion services continued to flow from Planned Parenthood to UW.

continue at Pro Life WI