Univ. of Wis. Hospitals secret plan to perform second-trimester abortions unveiled
ADF attorneys send letter asking for halt to program that threatens religious conscience rights, may violate funding restrictionsTuesday, January 06, 2009
MADISON, Wis. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Tuesday, asking that the institution refrain from implementing its secret and potentially illegal plans to perform second-trimester abortions in a jointly-operated clinic. The plan would likely compel unwilling employees to aid or participate in dismembering preborn babies, which would violate their religious conscience rights and 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. 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, states that penalties against any employee who refuses to recommend, aid, or perform abortions based on religious or moral objections is a blatant 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...provides, encourages, or refers for abortions" and that ADF is prepared to take decisive legal action if UWHC takes any negative action against its pro-life employees.
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 of the letter is available here.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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ABOUT Matt Bowman
Matt Bowman serves as legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund at its Washington, D.C., Regional Service Center, where he is a key member of the Life Litigation Project to protect the sanctity of human life. Before joining ADF in 2006, Bowman clerked for several federal judges, including The Honorable Samuel A. Alito, Jr., at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is admitted to the bar in Michigan, the U.S. Supreme Court, the District of Columbia, and numerous other federal courts. Practicing law since 2003, Bowman earned his J.D. from Ave Maria School of Law.