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To the Editor,
The University of Wisconsin community, including both students and faculty, should be aware the UW Hospital and Clinics made a very important and shocking decision yesterday. The Hospital and Clinics Board is separate from the UW but carries its name, all of its Board is connected with UW or the state of Wisconsin, and it does include Biddy Martin, your chancellor, as one of those voting. The Hospital Board approved allowing second trimester abortions at their joint clinic with Meriter Hospital on the corner of Park and Regent streets. The Madison Surgery Center Board will make the final decision on the issue later this month. Today, we hear of babies being born at 20 or 21 weeks after gestation. These babies will be aborted up to 22 weeks when their humanity becomes increasingly obvious.
Some people will say that only religious people could object to killing these sizeable babies. This is an insult to all atheists and agnostics. Even in relatively nonreligious countries such as Germany, France and Italy, second trimester abortions are illegal. Proponents also claim that if University Hospital and Clinics do not provide this “service,” women will have to go to Milwaukee. University Hospita should stop and wonder why none of the dozens of other clinics in south central Wisconsin are currently performing these late-term abortions.
It would be a travesty if while other hospitals in this country make headlines for keeping these babies alive, the UW makes headlines as the place to go to kill these youngsters.
Press reports show that the majority of the employees do not want to participate in these horrendous procedures and they are having a hard time getting anesthesiologists.
I spent some time last week on the campus, and even in liberal Madison, the overwhelming number of students found this disgusting. Our UW should be a place that respects life and can be respected by the citizens of this state. It should not be the dark sleazy institution providing abortions which would be illegal in most of the industrialized world because no other clinic in south central Wisconsin is immoral enough to provide them.
Sincerely,
Glenn Grothman
State Senator
UW-Madison Alumni
IP hash: 7df66c3c
“University Hospita should stop and wonder why none of the dozens of other clinics in south central Wisconsin are currently performing these late-term abortions.” Late-term abortions are surgical procedures which require specialized staff and facility. The vilification you’re attempting to put on second-term abortion ignores a few things: A) According to the National Abortion Federation, there are exactly four abortion providers in the entire state of Wisconsin, and B) Second-trimester abortions happen before week 20. The most common method of second-trimester abortions, D&E, is possible from week 15. C) Women who get later-term abortions generally would’ve favored getting it earlier, if possible. Maybe they could have done so if there were more than four abortion clinics in the entire state.
“Even in relatively nonreligious countries such as Germany, France and Italy, second trimester abortions are illegal.” I don’t have time to look it up right now this second, but I’d bet my right thumb that there are accessible, affordable, and non-stigmatized first-trimester abortions available in those countries. That’s different from here.
IP hash: 70e420b0
Dear State Senator Grothman — well said. Thank you. As a UW-Madison professor, I too am disgusted by our leadership (Chancellor Biddy Martin, Dean Bob Goldman, Dean Katharyn May, Professor and Director of Carbone Cancer Center George Wilding, and Regents David Walsh and Judith Crain). They have led the UW-Madison into the business of late-term abortions.
Now we have an institution supported by state taxpayers, and professors on the state payroll, performing abortions on 22 week old babies. The next time an alum comes back to campus for a game at the Kohl Center or at Camp Randall, or to the Terrace to relax, and contemplates a donation to the UW Foundation, they can think that just a few blocks away our fine institution is sponsoring and performing late-term abortions.
IP hash: bd6b2d38
Glenn,
Thank You! It is delightful to hear from a Senator with a moral compass, ethical standards, and a functioning spine. I feared the species had become extinct in Wisconsin, overrun by the fungal plague of relativism.
I stand with you and salute you, Sir!
A Fellow Alumni
IP hash: d20747fb
Hey BH,
Maybe you could have some measure of objectivity and publish some letters in support of the decision…I KNOW you have received at least one.
IP hash: d20747fb
So your main arguments against these procedures at the Madison Surgery Center are: a) It insults atheists and agnostics b) European countries don’t do it c) It would look bad in the newspapers d) “Press reports” show the majority of employees are against it e) Your time on campus showed the “overwhelming majority” of students are against it.
a) So does “…under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Are you going to rail in the BH against that, too? b) Many European countries also allow recreational marijuana use. Should we follow their lead on that, too? c) So does the Badger basketball team lately. Should we ban them too? d) “Press reports?” We’re relying on “press reports” for these data? Whose press reports, Glenn? Yours? e) Really, Glenn, how many students did you talk to? I’ll bet fewer than 10.
I really think debate about issues like these can be healthy and constructive. But these arguments are infantile (no pun intended) and weak. Come on, Glenn. I’ve heard better argumentation from an 8th-grade debate team.
IP hash: d20747fb
I’ll bet my left arm 8:47 isn’t actually a professor.