Republicans, UW clash over abortion ban proposal
Wisconsin | May 31, 2021
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republican legislators sparred with University of Wisconsin medical school officials Wednesday over a bill that would end an arrangement that allows UW doctors to train on abortion procedures at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
The bill comes as the fight over abortion has intensified nationally in recent weeks. A federal judge in Madison is set to rule soon on whether to expand availability of abortion-inducing pills in Wisconsin, and the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to consider a Mississippi law aimed at overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a right to abortion.
Under the UW bill, school employees would be prohibited from training medical residents to perform abortions at Planned Parenthood’s Madison clinic or any other private facility.
Wisconsin law prohibits using tax dollars to fund abortions. UW doctors are state employees. The bill’s supporters contend UW is getting around that prohibition by having Planned Parenthood pay those physicians for performing and training abortions at the organization’s facility. Opponents counter that the bill would threaten national accreditation for the university’s obstetrics-gynecology program because it would no longer be allowed to teach abortion procedures…
(Excerpts from the AP Press)