Press Room

For Immediate Release
April 19, 2010

Contact: Peggy Hamill, State Director, (262) 796-1111, cell (414) 416-0489
Or Virginia Zignego, Communications Director, (262) 796-1111, cell (262) 370-3993

Request filed with Attorney General’s office on University of Wisconsin ties to Planned Parenthood

On behalf of Pro-Life Wisconsin, the Alliance Defense Fund filed a formal request on Friday, April 16, with the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office. The request asks for an opinion on whether it is illegal for the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority [UWHCA] to pay resident physicians while they are being trained to do abortions at Planned Parenthood in Madison.

“Our University of Wisconsin state agencies should not be a training ground for abortionists,” said Virginia Zignego, communications director of Pro-Life Wisconsin and a UW-Madison graduate. “The UW Hospital is breaking the law by paying medical residents to perform abortions. Residents need to be instructed how to save, preserve and respect life, not how to kill preborn children.”

To view the letter to the Attorney General, click here.

Statute 20.927(1m) of Wisconsin law states, “No funds of this state or of any… agency of this state… shall be authorized for or paid to a physician or surgeon or a hospital, clinic or other medical facility for the performance of an abortion.” Click here to view statute 20.927. Its companion statute, 20.9275, explicitly defines “state agency” as “including… an authority created in ch. 231 or 233.” UWHCA is created in ch. 233. Wis. Statute 233.01- 233.42.

Despite this clear state law, since 2007 over $58,878 of funds of an “agency of this state” (UWHCA) have been “paid to a physician” (medical residents) “for the performance of an abortion” (during PPWI training) in direct violation of Wis. Stat. 20.927(1m).

Medical residents in the UW School of Medicine Ob/Gyn Department have two four-week rotations at Planned Parenthood, where they view and participate in abortions. To view the rotation schedule, click here. To view the signed contract between UW and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, click here.

“Wisconsin law is very clear: No state agency can fund abortion or abortion programs,” said Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. “The UWHCA is a state agency, and it is not above the law. We look forward to Attorney General Van Hollen’s opinion on this critical matter.”

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