By Liz Townsend

Pro-lifers in Wisconsin are closely watching the progress of a proposal that may bring second-trimester abortions to an outpatient health clinic in Madison. A spokeswoman for the groups that run the Madison Surgery Center confirmed that they are considering aborting babies between 13 and 22 weeks, according to the Capital Times.

"This would mean that you could go to the center for arthroscopic knee surgery, and maybe in the next room they'd be dismembering an unborn baby," said Barbara Lyons, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life. "Also, the fees you pay for the surgery would in fact be subsidizing abortions, since the funds will be commingled."

The Madison Surgery Center is jointly managed by the University of Wisconsin (UW) Hospital and Clinics, Meriter Hospital, and the UW Medical Foundation, which are all part of the system called UW Health. Lyons said that the UW Hospital and Clinics board may consider the proposal at its February meeting, but no timetable for a decision has been announced.

The proposal was offered after the longtime abortionist at Madison Abortion Clinic, Dennis Christensen, retired in December, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Christensen was the only abortionist in Madison that would perform abortions on older babies.

According to the AP, Planned Parenthood took over Madison Abortion Clinic after Christensen left, and will abort babies up to 18 weeks. Since Planned Parenthood would only refer women to a clinic in Milwaukee for abortions later than that, UW Health doctors decided that older babies should be aborted closer to home in Madison.

"The physicians involved believe this is part of a comprehensive plan of care for reproductive health," said UW Health spokeswoman Lisa Brunette, according to the Times. "Right now there is no clinic in the area that provides that type of termination and the physicians involved believe there is a public health responsibility to provide them, so they wish to move forward."

Equally disturbing is the implication that the bodies of the dead aborted babies might be used in experiments conducted by UW scientists. Brunette told the Wisconsin State Journal that "[t]issue from the abortions could be used by UW-Madison researchers but only after review by a faculty committee."

Pro-life state legislators have been asking UW Health to clarify the plan and to answer many disturbing questions that it raises, including the potential use of public funding, the ability of UW Health workers to opt out of involvement, and the use of the babies' bodies for research.

State Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) issued a statement asking UW officials to directly address the proposed use of aborted tissue.

"It is important for the UW to immediately put this horrific rumor to rest if it is not true," Grothman said in the press release. "If true, this situation necessitates the use of all of its power on the Hospital Board to prevent implementation of this extremely offensive plan."

"We commend Sen. Glenn Grothman," Lyons said. "Given the statement by their own spokesperson and the callous disregard for embryonic and unborn human life which exists at our 'prestigious' university, the odds are that the rumors are very true."