NEWS
Senate approves health care clause
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Carolyn Smith:
- Senate committee scrutinizes UW (October 20, 2005)
- Duo unveils universal healthcare proposal (October 21, 2005)
- In-Depth: WiCell unveils stem cell breakthrough (January 15, 2006)
Related Stories:
- Doyle vetoes 'Conscience Protection Act' (October 17, 2005)
- Doyle vetoes "conscience clause" (April 22, 2004)
- Proposed conscience-clause bill stirs up controversy (October 9, 2003)
- Medical students fight for the uninsured (September 7, 2001)
- Legislators seek insurance prices (October 30, 2007)
by Carolyn Smith
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
The Wisconsin State Senate approved a bill Tuesday allowing health-care providers and health-care facility employees to refuse to partake in medical procedures based on moral or religious beliefs without the risk of dismissal.
The legislation would also make doctors and health-care workers who do not give patients information on how to obtain medical procedures they deem immoral exempt from any legal actions.
Health-care workers could either refer the patient to alternative health-care providers or refuse to perform procedures including sterilization, abortion, experiments or medical treatments pertaining to human embryos. Providers could also refuse to perform or refer procedures causing the death of a terminally ill or non-terminally ill patient, such as euthanasia or depriving nutrition or hydration.
State Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, said in current state law, some health-care workers cannot be punished for refusing to fulfill certain aspects of their jobs based on religious or moral objections; however, not all employees in the health-care field have that security.
"This bill extends the same privileges to others so they can enjoy the protection of practicing their jobs without risking their personal morals and beliefs," Lazich, one of the bill's coauthors, said.
Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said members of the Senate attempted to amend the bill so doctors would have to inform prospective patients of specific moral or religious objections before actually treating the patients, but that specific amendment and others were shot down by the Republican majority.
However, Erpenbach said, Gov. Jim Doyle will veto the bill, which has already been approved by the Assembly.
"The Republican Legislature had a great day in the Senate, but I'm sure that will end shortly because Doyle will veto [this bill]," Erpenbach said.
The Senate also passed a bill requiring school districts that include sex education in their curricula to teach abstinence to students as the most effective way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
"For [schools] that teach sex ed, this bill requires that abstinence be taught as the preferred course of behavior for sexual activity," Lazich, who authored the bill, said.
Abstinence is "the only 100 percent effective" way to prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, she added.
"Because there is emotional trauma that goes with pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, children, teens and young people will be healthier, happier and have a more successful adulthood," she said.
However, Nicole Safar, a public-policy analyst for Planned Parenthood, said the bill has the potential to harm the state's youth.
"We know research shows us that abstinence without contraceptive instruction is not effective in delaying teen sex or teaching kids how to prevent unintended pregnancies and [sexually transmitted infections]," Safar said.
Though the Senate passed these two bills promoting abstinence and allowing health-care workers to object to medical procedures based on ethics, a bill called the "Women's Health Education Act" was introduced in the State Assembly Tuesday.
The bill, which was authored by State Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, has four components and will increase the access women have to information and services dealing with reproductive health, if passed. Namely, the legislation seeks to require pharmacists to dispense FDA-approved contraceptives and force emergency-room workers to inform rape victims about emergency contraception.
"It advances the health-care initiative in Wisconsin that protects health care instead of attacking it all the time, which is what most of the bills that we've been seeing in the current Legislature [do]," Safar said.
