Rothe Testifies for LWV Wisconsin

Thanks to LWVDC Vice President Ingrid Rothe, in her role with the state League legislative committee, for her testimony.

Testimony in Opposition to AB 206/SB154 Presented to the Assembly Committee on Science and Technology on July 18, 2017 Ingrid Rothe, on behalf of League of Women Voters of Wisconsin

Members of the Committee, thank you for this opportunity to speak to you about AB 206, which limits training opportunities for doctors associated with the UW Hospital System. My name is Ingrid Rothe, and I am a member of the Legislative Committee of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.

It is the position of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin that women are entitled to make our own reproductive choices, in consultation with our doctors or others of our choice. This choice should include the option of safe and legal abortion, provided by competent and well-trained medical providers. By necessity, in order to make this choice, we must have access to well-trained providers.

This bill would make it more difficult to locate a well-trained provider. It will eliminate the possibility of training occurring at clinics where uncomplicated early-term abortions are provided. It will restrict any possible training to only women whose difficult abortions are possible in hospitals solely because they are being provided to save their lives, or because the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest. In short, doctors-in-training will only have the right to receive training for a small proportion of the types of abortions that can legally be performed in Wisconsin.

If any bill limited doctors’ right to receive training for surgery for prostate cancer only in the end stages of the man’s life, no one would support it. No one would question the man’s right to choose his medical options and expect to receive care from a well-trained surgeon.

This bill not only violates the rights of women to locate and receive competent medical care, but it also violates the rights of doctors to be trained in the medical procedures of their chosen specialties. It may affect the accreditation of the UW School of Medicine, especially with respect to training in obstetrics and gynecology, and this may lead to fewer practicing OB/GYNs in Wisconsin. It seems not only ironic but cruel that a bill designed to prevent abortions could instead deny women access to good medical care while they are pregnant and praying for the birth of a healthy child.

I am old enough to remember the days of back alley abortions, and the horrible butchery of women. Do not return us to those days.

The League of Women Voters urges you to defeat this bill.

Thanks to Wisconsin Eye for their fine work in bringing the actions of government to the people.