Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin stopped providing abortion-inducing pills Friday amidst concerns about a new law that requires additional steps for women seeking abortions and imposes criminal penalties for doctors who fail to adhere to new guidelines.
Clinics throughout the state will still provide surgical abortions and emergency contraception, also know as the morning-after pill. But Planned Parenthood decided to stop providing abortion pills, which are only available from a doctor for women within the first nine weeks of pregnancy, because the language in the law is “vague” and puts doctors at risk of criminal charges.
Act 217, which went into effect Friday, creates felony penalties for physicians who do not perform an in-person examination before prescribing the drug, are not in the room when the woman receives the drug, or do not tell patients to schedule a follow-up visit after taking the drug.
Teri Huyck, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said in a statement Friday the new law is vague and unnecessarily interferes with the patient-physician relationship, placing an “unprecedented burden” on Wisconsin physicians and women.
Supporters of the bill say it provides a minimum standard for abortions in Wisconsin and will ensure women will not be coerced into having abortions.
State Sen. Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, who authored the bill, said Planned Parenthood’s decision is an “attention-seeking flawed characterization of the bill” because the law does not ban the use of chemicals to induce abortions.
“Ultimately, its decision today has nothing to do with the law,” Lazich said in a statement Friday. “It is a thinly veiled attempt to manufacture evidence of a fabricated war on women. It is a poor fabrication at best.”
But opponents argue the bill is an attempt to make abortions more difficult and advance a conservative ideology.
Collective members from the Campus Women’s Center, a pro-women’s rights group that educates and serves as a referral center for students said it is unfortunate to live in a place where women’s rights can be violated.
“Now that the law is in place it will definitely make it harder for women to have access to all of their choices and that includes abortion if that’s what they feel is necessary,” members of the Center said Sunday.
Friday’s decision has also become a political tool for Democrats against Republicans, who face recall elections for Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four state senators in June.
Democrats have termed the series of women’s health related bills passed this winter and spring Walker’s “War on Women.”
