Wisconsin Medical ‘Conscience’ Bill Vetoed

Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed legislation Wednesday that would have allowed healthcare professionals to decline to provide certain medical procedures, including in-vitro fertilization, on religious or moral grounds without fear of disciplinary action.

Doyle said the legislation would have allowed healthcare providers to deny patients needed care because of their own ideological beliefs.

“The personal ideological beliefs of scarce healthcare providers in rural or other underserved parts of the state should not dictate the legitimate medical options available to citizens,” Doyle said.

Wisconsin’s “conscience clause,” in place since the 1970s, allows physicians, hospitals and hospital workers to decline to perform abortions and sterilizations for moral or religious reasons.

The vetoed bill would have created new legal protections for those who refused to perform those procedures -- and would have added other procedures to the list, including experiments that destroy a human embryo, procedures using organs from aborted fetuses, in-vitro fertilization and the removal of feeding tubes. The list also included euthanasia, which is illegal in Wisconsin.

The bill would have allowed healthcare providers to refuse to refer or transfer patients to doctors willing to perform procedures such as abortion and sterilization. It would have allowed pharmacists to refuse to dispense any medication they believed would be used for an abortion or euthanasia.

“It’s pathetic that the governor considers assisted suicide, euthanasia and abortion healthcare and would want to force medical professionals at facilities to engage in these activities against their will,” said Sue Armacost, legislative director for Wisconsin Right to Life.

Chris Taylor, political director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said Doyle’s veto saved the state the embarrassment of passing one of the most “antipatient laws in the country.”

“It elevates the personal beliefs of a provider above the healthcare needs of a patient,” Taylor said.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jean Hundertmark (R-Clintonville), said supporters did not have enough votes to override the veto.