MADISON, Wis., January 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) sent a letter to University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Tuesday, asking that the institution refrain from implementing what the group called its “secret and potentially illegal” plans to perform second-trimester abortions in a jointly-operated clinic. The ADF claimed that the plan would likely compel unwilling employees to aid or participate in dismembering preborn babies, which would violate their religious conscience rights. The ADF also said that the plan may constitute an unlawful state funding of abortion.
“Christians and other pro-life medical students and staff should be allowed to abide by their beliefs,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Pro-life employees shouldn’t be forced to violate their conscience by participating in the killing of preborn, developed babies. The university’s plan is morally and legally flawed and should be abandoned.”
The UWHC’s plan would create a full-service second-trimester abortion practice at the Madison Surgery Center, a joint venture of UWHC, UW Medical Foundation, and Meriter Hospital. University of Wisconsin medical residents are expected to train and take part in the killing of the second-trimester babies.
According to a Chicago Tribune article, however, UW Health spokeswoman Lisa Brunette said that employees who object to abortion would be permitted to opt out of performing or assisting in them.
In recent years, UWHC researchers have experimented on almost fully-formed body parts obtained from second-trimester abortions performed nearby, and now all of those abortions would be performed in UWHC’s joint venture. The plan would also include the abortion of disabled babies that already occurs at Meriter Hospital.
The letter from ADF attorneys to UWHC President and CEO Donna Katen-Bahensky, as well as to the presidents of Meriter and the UW Medical Foundation, reminds the University that issuing penalties against any employee who refuses to recommend, aid, or perform abortions based on religious or moral objections is a violation of state and federal law. It also reminds university leadership of the fact that “no state or federal funds from various sources may be used for a program that either provides, encourages, or refers for abortions.”
ADF also sent a copy of the letter to the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services, which enforces new federal regulations designed to protect pro-life health care workers and medical students in federally funded programs. A copy is available at www.telladf.org/UserDocs/UWHCDemandLetter.pdf.