California Legislature Attempts to Legalize
Abortion by Non-Physicians
Life Legal Defense Foundation Refused Public Information on State’s Scheme
To Train Midwives to “Suck” Babies Out of Wombs
In February, Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) introduced Senate Bill 1338, which if enacted would allow non-physicians to perform abortions after training provided pursuant to the Health Workforce Pilot Project #171 (HWPP). $ 3.5 Million for the HWPP program is funded by a non-disclosed private foundation and SB 1338 was sponsored by Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, the American Civil Liberties Union of California, ACCESS Women's Health Justice, NARAL Pro-Choice California and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice. Last month the Life Legal Defense Foundation (LLDF), using the California Public Records Act, requested information to learn the names of the doctors performing the training and those already trained. According to the ACLU of Northern California dozens of people have already been trained as part of multi-year pilot project conducted by the University of California, San Francisco at numerous health centers across the state.
“Abortion itself is an atrocity when committed by a physician. However, now there’s pending legislation that would train nurse practioners and midwives to perform abortions, including the suction method. Most people think that midwives are supposed to bring babies into the world, not kill them,” said Dana Cody, Executive Director, Life Legal Defense Foundation. “By eliminating the physician from the abortion procedure, a woman will get less medical counseling than undergoing plastic surgery.”
On Friday, April 13, 2012, LLDF filed a Writ of Mandate to compel disclosure of the identity of those physicians providing HWPP training after a public records request for complete information has been denied. The purpose of the LLDF request is to determine whether or not the physicians participating in the training are not themselves under investigation or discipline for providing substandard care, according to California law, the information requested must be disclosed. The Writ is available here.
“Data shows that more doctors are making a life-affirming choice to not perform abortions. Why are California lawmakers helping Planned Parenthood’s human resource department by making more unethical medical professionals available?” said Cody.
About the Life Legal Defense Foundation
Life Legal Defense Foundation is a non-profit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens, committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information, go to www.lldf.org
Thomas Ciesielka
TC Public Relations
333 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1322
Chicago, IL 60601
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