Madison, WI - The Assembly Family Law Committee gave their approval this morning to Assembly Bill (AB) 343, legislation that would prohibit the University of Wisconsin System from advertising, prescribing or dispensing the morning-after pill on its statewide campuses.
In response to compelling public testimony from James Linn, M.D., Chairman of the Department of OB/GYN at Columbia-St. Marys Milwaukee Campus, and Leslie Markman, M.D., a family practice physician at Amherst Medical Center, the Committee on a bi-partisan 5-1 vote recommended the bill for approval by the full Assembly. Pro-Life Wisconsin applauds the leadership of the bills author, Representative Dan LeMahieu (R-Oostburg), as well as the following committee members who voted in favor of AB 343: Committee Chairperson Carol Owens (R-Oshkosh) and Representatives Joan Ballweg (R-Markesan), Peggy Krusick(D-Milwaukee),Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake), and Sheryl Albers (R-Reedsburg). The dissenting vote came from Representative Dave Cullen (D-Milwaukee).
We thank Representative Owens for her timely action on AB 343, said Peggy Hamill, State Director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. By providing easy access to the morning-after pill, the UW System is not only recklessly exposing itself to civil litigation in the event of adverse health outcomes it is also endangering the health of its female students and the lives of their preborn children.
Assembly Bill 343 specifically targets emergency contraception, defined as a hormonal medication or combination of medications that is administered ONLY after sexual intercourse for the post-coital control of fertility. The Pill and other routine hormonal birth control methods are administered before sexual intercourse, and are therefore not subject to the prohibitions in the bill.
It is clear from science that a genetically unique human individual is established at the time of fertilization, said Dr. Linn, a board certified OB/GYN physician speaking for himself. Initially called a zygote, the new embryo undergoes a series of cleavages and then implants into the lining of the uterus about six days after fertilization. The drug companies tell us that their drugs can prevent implantation by altering the uterine lining. Drugs or devices that prevent implantation of the embryo are correctly called abortive or abortifacient, and virtually all relevant textbooks site prevention of implantation as a mode of action of so-called emergency contraception. So while the morning-after pill is often promoted as a way to decrease unwanted pregnancies and thereby decrease abortions, it actually works by causing early abortions, said Dr. Linn.
Source: Pro-Life Wisconsin, more information here
