Wisconsin Abortion Clinics: Admitting Laws UnNeeded
Abortion providers tried to persuade a federal judge Tuesday that Wisconsin's law requiring them to have hospital admitting privileges is unnecessary, generates bureaucratic hoops for clinics and creates delays for women seeking the procedures.
Planned Parenthood and Affiliated Medical Services have filed a lawsuit arguing the requirement will force AMS's Milwaukee clinic to close because providers there lack such admitting privileges. Planned Parenthood fears the closure could mean hundreds of additional women will turn to them, overwhelming their clinics and creating longer waits for abortions.
"It will definitely hurt the women in Wisconsin who are often the most vulnerable," Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin's medical director, Dr. Kathy King, testified.
Wisconsin is one of a handful of states that recently passed laws requiring doctors to have hospital admitting privileges. Abortion clinics in Alabama have filed a lawsuit similar to the one in Wisconsin.
Planned Parenthood and AMS filed their lawsuit July 5, the day Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed the legislation. U.S. District Judge William Conley blocked the law from taking effect while he weighs the lawsuit. The bench trial began Tuesday and is expected to last until at least Friday. Conley's not expected to issue a ruling for weeks, though.
The organizations initially argued that the law would place an undue burden on women seeking abortions by forcing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Appleton and an AMS clinic in Milwaukee to close.
Providers at the Planned Parenthood clinic have since obtained admitting privileges, but those at the AMS clinic have not. Closure of the AMS facility would effectively end abortions after 19 weeks in Wisconsin because no other facility offers them later than that, the clinics have said.
Dr. Susan Pfleger, who performs abortions one or two days per week for Planned Parenthood, testified that she applied for admitting privileges at two Milwaukee hospitals in May 2013 and didn't receive them for about nine months. One hospital granted privileges in January and the other in February.
State attorneys said Pfleger contributed to the delays by not providing all the needed information at once and AMS' providers haven't tried hard enough to get admitting privileges. The state has maintained the law promotes a more thorough evaluation of abortion providers' competency and ensures continuity of care if a woman develops complications that force her to visit a hospital.
The providers' attorneys began by trying to show that women almost never end up in the hospital because of abortion complications. Four patients out of roughly 8,400 have been transferred from Planned Parenthood's Milwaukee clinic to a hospital between 2009 and 2013, King testified.
Wendie Ashlock, director of AMS's Milwaukee clinic, testified that three patients out of nearly 5,000 in 2012 and 2013 have been transferred to a hospital.
Ashlock also said she helped one of the physicians at AMS try to get admitting privileges at a Milwaukee hospital. She said hospital officials often didn't return messages and it took them nearly nine months to reject the request. King, meanwhile, said it took nearly 10 months to get privileges for staff at the Appleton clinic.
If AMS can't get privileges the 2,000 or so women who use its clinic annually likely will turn to the Milwaukee Planned Parenthood clinic, King said. The facility can't handle the influx, she said, and delays could stretch to as long as 10 weeks.
The state's attorneys are expected to present their witnesses Wednesday.
Planned Parenthood and Affiliated Medical Services have filed a lawsuit arguing the requirement will force AMS's Milwaukee clinic to close because providers there lack such admitting privileges. Planned Parenthood fears the closure could mean hundreds of additional women will turn to them, overwhelming their clinics and creating longer waits for abortions.
"It will definitely hurt the women in Wisconsin who are often the most vulnerable," Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin's medical director, Dr. Kathy King, testified.
Wisconsin is one of a handful of states that recently passed laws requiring doctors to have hospital admitting privileges. Abortion clinics in Alabama have filed a lawsuit similar to the one in Wisconsin.
Planned Parenthood and AMS filed their lawsuit July 5, the day Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed the legislation. U.S. District Judge William Conley blocked the law from taking effect while he weighs the lawsuit. The bench trial began Tuesday and is expected to last until at least Friday. Conley's not expected to issue a ruling for weeks, though.
The organizations initially argued that the law would place an undue burden on women seeking abortions by forcing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Appleton and an AMS clinic in Milwaukee to close.
Providers at the Planned Parenthood clinic have since obtained admitting privileges, but those at the AMS clinic have not. Closure of the AMS facility would effectively end abortions after 19 weeks in Wisconsin because no other facility offers them later than that, the clinics have said.
Dr. Susan Pfleger, who performs abortions one or two days per week for Planned Parenthood, testified that she applied for admitting privileges at two Milwaukee hospitals in May 2013 and didn't receive them for about nine months. One hospital granted privileges in January and the other in February.
State attorneys said Pfleger contributed to the delays by not providing all the needed information at once and AMS' providers haven't tried hard enough to get admitting privileges. The state has maintained the law promotes a more thorough evaluation of abortion providers' competency and ensures continuity of care if a woman develops complications that force her to visit a hospital.
The providers' attorneys began by trying to show that women almost never end up in the hospital because of abortion complications. Four patients out of roughly 8,400 have been transferred from Planned Parenthood's Milwaukee clinic to a hospital between 2009 and 2013, King testified.
Wendie Ashlock, director of AMS's Milwaukee clinic, testified that three patients out of nearly 5,000 in 2012 and 2013 have been transferred to a hospital.
Ashlock also said she helped one of the physicians at AMS try to get admitting privileges at a Milwaukee hospital. She said hospital officials often didn't return messages and it took them nearly nine months to reject the request. King, meanwhile, said it took nearly 10 months to get privileges for staff at the Appleton clinic.
If AMS can't get privileges the 2,000 or so women who use its clinic annually likely will turn to the Milwaukee Planned Parenthood clinic, King said. The facility can't handle the influx, she said, and delays could stretch to as long as 10 weeks.
The state's attorneys are expected to present their witnesses Wednesday.