Stand Up for Women’s Health Care
The right wing and the Alliance Defense Fund are back at it.
Please read this from the Coalition to Protect Women’s Health & Safety — critical information about reproductive freedom and efforts by the right wing to stop women from accessing safe and legal reproductive services:
The Coalition to Protect Women’s Health & Safety strongly supports the health care professionals and providers that have courageously undertaken the effort to provide the full range of critical reproductive services in Dane County. The UW Medical Foundation, UW Hospital and Meriter Hospital are poised to provide second trimester abortions at the Madison Surgery Center and will be able to provide an essential service for area women.
Women’s health advocates from across state are banning together to support this expansion of needed services in South Central Wisconsin. Without these services secured, women in certain untenable situations, such as those experiencing health problems in pregnancy, would have no where to go in the community. Though only a small percentage of abortions occur after twenty weeks, it is critical that these patients have access to safe, comprehensive care that is available in an outpatient surgery center with hospital resources on site.
Nationwide and locally, second trimester abortions account for ten percent or fewer of total abortion procedures. In 2007, 3% of abortions occurred after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion is banned in Wisconsin after fetal viability (typically 23 -24 weeks) unless a woman’s life or health is threatened. For many years, Dr. Dennis Christensen provided abortion services at the Madison Abortion Clinic. With the retirement of Dr. Christensen in late December of 2008, there is no area clinic that provides such procedures. Without local availability, Madison-area women will be forced to travel to obtain this service, and may obtain the service under conditions that are less than optimal.
The concerned physicians and health care entities who brought this issue forward and many UW Health and Meriter leaders believe there is public-health responsibility to provide these procedures as part of comprehensive program of family planning and reproductive health care.
Compassionate and committed professionals from the UW Foundation, UW Hospital and Meriter Hospital recognized that the absence of second trimester abortion services would put women in untenable, often tragic, situations. The Madison-area health care providers and professionals have taken the initiative to ensure that this very important part of women’s health cannot be neglected.
The Coalition to Protect Women’s Health & Safety applauds and stands behind the Madison Surgery Center and its entities.
This is important. We will keep you up to date on all the important work being done to protect freedom.