Source: Chicago Tribune

by Todd Richmond

 

Auditors should look into whether the University of Wisconsin health system may be improperly funding abortion training for medical residents, state Justice Department officials said in a letter released Thursday. 

Wisconsin law prohibits state agencies from paying doctors or medical facilities for performing abortions. The University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority pays medical residents specializing in gynecology to train at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, where they can choose to undertake abortion training. 

The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group of Christian lawyers, sent a letter in April on behalf of Pro-Life Wisconsin to Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen alleging UWHCA has paid nearly $60,000 over the last three years to cover residents' training at Planned Parenthood. The group claims the payments violate the law and asked Van Hollen for a formal opinion. 

In a May 25 letter to the Legislative Audit Bureau, Assistant Attorney General Kevin Potter said the UWHCA appears to qualify as a state agency under the abortion prohibition law. As such, it can't use its money for abortions. 

Potter said the Justice Department hasn't concluded UWHCA has violated the law, but the Alliance Defense Fund's allegations raise "concerns." A violation of the law, however, isn't a criminal offense, limiting the Justice Department's authority to investigate, he said. 

He suggested auditors clarify residents' roles in abortions and whether participation is mandatory, obtain UWHCA records detailing residents' tasks at Planned Parenthood and get contact information for residents who trained at Planned Parenthood. 

Joe Chrisman, special assistant to State Auditor Jan Mueller, had no immediate comment. Matt Egerer, an aide to state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, co-chair of the Joint Audit Committee, said Barca would discuss Potter's letter with the other co-chair, Sen. Katherine Vineholt, D-Alma. Vineholt hadn't seen the letter, said her aide, Linda Kleinschmidt. 

UWHCA spokeswoman Lisa Brunette issued a statement stressing the Justice Department didn't conclude the university had violated the law and promising to work with auditors. 

"UW Hospital is happy to provide any relevant documents to anyone who has a legal right to them," the statement said. 

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin spokeswoman Amanda Harrington had no immediate comment. 

Alliance Defense Fund attorney Matthew S. Bowman, who wrote the initial letter to Van Hollen, said auditors should investigate. 

"The UW Hospital," he said, "is breaking the law in order to promote an ideological agenda in favor of abortion." 

The ADF also has questioned whether UWHCA's plan to offer second-term abortions at the university clinic in Madison violates the same law. University officials have said they are certain the plan is legal, but they have yet to start offering abortions.