The University of Wisconsin Health and Clinics Authority Board voted Wednesday to support a proposed second-trimester abortion clinic at a local surgery center.
The clinic would be at the Madison Surgery Center, a private joint venture between UW and Meriter Hospitals located at 1 S. Park St. The surgery center's board is expected to make a final decision on the proposed clinic at their meeting this week.
Dr. Laurel Rice, chair of the UW's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, presented the proposal to the board and estimated the surgery center would perform about 120 to 130 second-trimester procedures per year.
Rice also said there would be no research or state funding associated with the project, and physician and staff participation in the procedures would be strictly voluntary.
Board members heard public hearing testimony from both pro-life and pro-choice advocates and members of the medical community before voting on the proposal.
Dr. Todd Miller, vice president of Pro-Life Wisconsin's Education Task Force, warned against the potentially harmful effects a second-trimester abortion facility could have on the community. He argued performing second-trimester abortions would conflict with the basic medical principle of saving lives.
There is a negative image associated with abortion '¦ and it's going to carry with it a stigma that will be associated with your facility,"" he said.
Judy, a 45-year-old Madison resident who declined to give her last name, spoke to give the board a patient's perspective on second-trimester abortion. Judy said she decided to have an abortion when she was 16-weeks pregnant due to a life-threatening blood clot.
Dr. Dennis Christensen, who was the only second-trimester abortion provider in the Madison area until his retirement in December 2008, performed her abortion. Judy stressed the need for the procedure to be offered in Madison to provide better health care for women.
""Women in Madison and southern Wisconsin need options when faced with a terribly difficult pregnancy decision,"" she said. ""Women need choices about what kind of caring is best for them and what they feel comfortable with.""
Dr. Nancy Fredericks, an anesthesiologist at the surgery center, said many of her coworkers opposed the procedure for religious and moral reasons. She said morale at the surgery center is ""at an all-time low"" because of the proposal, and questioned whether there would be adequate staff to safely perform the procedure.
In response, the board added an amendment to the proposal calling for the quality of care to be maintained and for any staff issues to be brought forth to surgery center management. Ultimately, the board voted 11-3 in support of the clinic.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin voted in favor of the proposal and said she agreed with Board Chair David Walsh's assertion that it is the university's responsibility to provide comprehensive medical care despite the controversy accompanying the issue of abortion.
""This university has had difficulty with the politics, the price and the economics with just about every exercise of its First Amendment freedoms in teaching controversial ideas,"" Walsh said. ""I'm willing to take that risk.
