Last week, a bill landed on Governor Doyle's desk characteristic of the work our state legislature has engaged in as of late. AB 207, the so-called \Patient Abandonment Bill,"" would have allowed doctors and other health care workers to put their personal religious and political beliefs above the health of their patients. Fortunately for the health of people across Wisconsin, Doyle vetoed the bill last Friday. However, Doyle's veto just ensures that the Republican-controlled legislature will soon send another, equally disturbing bill to Doyle's desk, just as they have all session.
For instance, one of the bills moving through the legislature, AB 321, demands that doctors tell pregnant women their fetuses ""feel pain,"" which is not supported by sound scientific evidence. Another bill, SB 71, would actually allow doctors to withhold prenatal information, like the evidence of physical disabilities, from pregnant women if the doctors believe such information would lead to abortion. Yet another bill, AB 343, would bar University Health Services from offering the morning-after pill to students.
But AB 207 took home the trophy as the legislation that was the worst for our health and safety. The bill would have allowed health care providers to refuse to provide medical services because of their own religious and political beliefs. If a doctor did not personally approve of procedures such as life-saving stem cell therapies, abortion or removing a person's nutrition tube, the doctor would not be obligated to help the patient. What is worse is that, if health care providers had refused to perform medical procedures, they would not have had to give patients any information on how to obtain those procedures elsewhere.
During debate in the Assembly, Rep. Sheldon Wasserman, D-Whitefish Bay, an obstetrician, described a terrifying scenario where his assistants would walk out on him while he was tying a woman's tubes. The bill would have amounted to ""total abandonment,"" Wasserman declared.
It should also be noted that not a single medical organization supported AB 207. The bill's passage in the legislature was simply a result of Republicans completely ignoring the ethical responsibilities of medical professionals and the best interests of their patients. Instead, they blindly did-and will continue to do-whatever the anti-abortion lobby calls for.
The bill would have also insulated pharmacists, meaning that a pharmacist who believes contraception qualifies as abortion could refuse to fill a prescription for birth control. This concern is very real, considering that in 2002 a pharmacist refused to fill and then refused to transfer the birth control prescription of a UW-Stout student. A bill that granted pharmacists the power to deny people their prescriptions solely because of the pharmacists' personal views would have done nothing but hurt the quality of health care.
As the Republicans touted AB 207 as the ""Conscience Protection Act,"" Doyle, in a statement released Friday, summarized it best when he said that ""because it puts a doctor's political views ahead of the best interests of patients, this legislation ought to be called the unconscionable clause."" The bill was also very reflective of the difference in Republican and Democratic values. Republican values consist of placing religion above the best interests of patients, above scientific advances in the medical field and even sometimes above the health of their own loved ones. Democrats, on the other hand, value the health and safety of their families, as well as the jobs, education and the environment that contribute to the overall well-being of society. Hopefully, Doyle's veto pen and the rest of the Democrats will continue to protect the health of Wisconsinites from the latest Republican bills.
