DOJ Will Present Testimony Wednesday In Abortion Law Challenge

The state Department of Justice will present testimony in federal court on Wednesday in defense of a Wisconsin law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

Abortion rights witnesses challenging the law testified Tuesday that the law is medically unnecessary. Witnesses who work at two abortion clinics in Milwaukee said one of them would have to close if the law goes into effect because doctors there have been denied hospital admitting privileges.

ACLU Attorney Renee Paradis, who represents Affiliated Medical Services clinic, says complications following abortions requiring hospitalization are rare and when they occur, clinics have formal agreements with hospital emergency rooms that are prepared to handle them without the doctor who performed abortion.

“Abortion providers in Wisconsin transfer patients by giving them medical records, calling the hospital and making sure they’re ready to take them on,” Paradis said. “It’s actually under federal law – hospitals have to treat anyone that comes through their door. So there’s really no medical reason for the law.”

The law is currently on hold until Judge William Conley rules on whether it violates a woman’s right to an abortion.

Nicole Safar of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin says the law would hurt women’s health by reducing the number of clinics in the state that can provide safe abortions.

“By having an immediate impact of closing almost 60 percent of the access in Wisconsin, it would have been a real problem for women trying to get those services,” Safar said. “It would have impacted their health through longer wait times, as we heard today, and maybe an inability to access the services at all.”

Witnesses for the state are expected to refute that claim Wednesday. They will argue that continuity of care from one doctor for even the few patients who have complications following an abortion is a medical necessity.