Plan To Offer Second-Trimester Abortions 'Gives Women Choice' That Law Guarantees, Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 23 Feb 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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"Providing safe medical care ... in the most appropriate environment, as part of a comprehensive program of women's health care, is the rationale behind the plan to offer second-trimester abortions at the Madison Surgery Center," Jeff Grossman -- a physician and president and CEO of the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation -- and Donna Katen-Bahensky -- president and CEO of University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics -- write in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel opinion piece. The decision to "take on" the program that offers women second-trimester abortions "is not related to revenue generation or research," they write, adding that the "initiative came from concerned physicians who work every day with women facing situations and choices many of us never will experience." The retirement of a local physician who provided the service led officials at UW Health and Meriter Hospital -- which co-own the surgery center -- "to make a choice: let the gap continue, or step forward and fulfill our commitment to provide care to our community," they write. Grossman and Katen-Bahensky add that officials "chose to step forward, because providing access to second-trimester procedures in a medically safe environment gives women the choice that our laws guarantee."

They continue, "Extraordinary efforts were made to make sure that a broad range of viewpoints came to the board before it voted," adding that they "know that some in our organization, our community and our state do not support this decision, and several actively oppose it." Grossman and Katen-Bahensky write that the "right to freedom of conscience will be honored among our employees" and that "[o]nly those who wish to serve will do so." They also write, "If one thinks that government should ban individual choice to terminate pregnancy, then any decision that enhances the ability to make that choice will be unwelcome," noting that although they "are respectful of such reasoning, ... as providers of health care, we think our patients deserve the full range of legal choices available to them." Grossman and Katen-Bahensky conclude, "We remain committed to making sure that our patients make their decisions with the benefit of full information, emotional support and the highest level of professional health care" (Grossman/Katen-Bahensky, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/17).

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