The University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority Board voted 11-3 Wednesday in support of a proposed abortion clinic at Madison Surgery Center that would perform second-trimester abortions.
UW Chancellor Biddy Martin, who sits on the board, was among those who voted in favor of the proposal.
The board’s decision is the third of four major votes the proposed clinic must earn before moving forward. Meriter Hospital and UW Hospital’s doctor groups have already voted in favor of the plan, and according to Hospital and Clinics spokesperson Lisa Brunette, the Madison Surgery Center’s board will make a final decision on the issue in a closed meeting as early as this week.
The meeting included testimony from the public and lasted four hours before the board voted in favor of the proposal by a show of hands.
“It was a lengthy meeting, and I think what stood out to people was having people speak in a very emotional manner,” Brunette said. “[This decision] means that [Madison] is one step closer to having this service available in the community.”
The proposed clinic would offer abortions for women in their second trimester of pregnancy. Second-trimester abortions have not been offered in Madison since Planned Parenthood physician Dennis Christensen retired in December.
She added the majority of abortions performed at MSC would be on women who have difficulty affording health care. An estimated 125 abortions would take place each year.
The meeting took place at the UW Medical Foundation building and filled to capacity a half hour before it began. Police blockaded entrances to the building and turned away those who approached once the meeting was underway.
Brunette said about 100 people were in attendance, including 40 participating from an overflow room.
Those who testified in front of the board included citizens and six to eight invited speakers representing various special interest groups.
Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, spoke against the proposed clinic, testifying that “the idea that Southcentral Wisconsin could not survive without [second-term abortions] is absurd.”
He later told The Badger Herald the board’s final decision puts UW’s “good name on murder.”
“Biddy Martin … will be forever remembered as the woman who caused the university to do something that no other clinic in central Wisconsin would do … and that is kill a baby five months [after] conception,” Grothman said.
Lisa Subeck, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, voiced support for the decision.
“UW Hospital and Clinics should be applauded for their choice,” Subeck said. “They made a decision to fill a public health void. There wasn’t anyone else to step up and fill this, and the Madison Surgery Center is an ideal place to perform these procedures from a medical perspective.”
Subeck said that besides the emotional nature of many of the testimonies, the overall atmosphere of the meeting was calm and businesslike.
A modest protest organized by anti-abortion activists outside the building was also peaceful.
