A Wisconsin anti-abortion group is questioning the legality of using state funds to train state-employed physicians at Planned Parenthood, saying it violates state law because training involves performing abortions.
Pro-Life Wisconsin sent a formal request to Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen last Friday to determine if it is illegal for the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority to train the residents there.
Currently, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and Planned Parenthood have an agreement for the interchange of employees. UW Medical students and UWHC residents can gain training experiences at Planned Parenthood’s site in Madison, including family planning, colposcopy and abortions.
According to a Wisconsin law statute, no state funds or funds from any state agency can be paid to a physician, surgeon, hospital, clinic or other medical facility for abortions. As the physicians are employed by UW Hospitals and Clinics, they are technically paid using state funding.
“UWHCA appears to be violating the law by using [the funds of an agency of the state of Wisconsin] to pay residents for activities at Planned Parenthood that include their performance of abortions,” Matt Bowman from the Legal Counsel of Alliance Defense Fund said in the letter to Van Hollen.
Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, said in a statement UWHCA is a state agency and is not above the law.
“We don’t feel that it’s legal for the medical students to be trained at Planned Parenthood,” Pro-Life Wisconsin spokesperson Virginia Zignego said. “So we think [this practice] should cease and desist, which is why we filed the request.”
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has received the letter, according to spokesperson Bill Cosh, and will respond in writing. DOJ is not yet sure if it will give a formal opinion on the issue as requested.
“Wisconsin State Law prescribes the officers and entities that are entitled to a Legal Opinion of the Attorney General,” Cosh said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. “The Alliance Defense Fund is not a statutorily enumerated requester.”
The UWHCA and Planned Parenthood could not be reached for comment.
