A bill pro-life groups in California are actively opposing that would allow non-physicians to do abortions has bee put off until next Monday. That means California residents have more time to ask their state legislators to vote against it.
A California Senate committee is expected to vote within the next week on a measure that Americans United for Life president Charmine Yoest says would downgrade standards of care for women undergoing abortions by overturning a California requirement that only qualified doctors perform surgical abortions.
Yoest says the proposed, watered-down legislation would allow midwives, physician assistants and nurse practitioners to perform surgical abortions, a move advocated by the abortion lobby.
SB 1338, sponsored by Sen. Christine Kehoe of San Diego, is expected up for a vote possibly this coming Monday. The measure was introduced at the request of Planned Parenthood, NARAL and the ACLU.
“Currently, 43 states and the District of Columbia require that only licensed physicians perform abortions,” Yoest noted. “The abortion lobby’s effort to lower the standards of medical care for women is a first and an outrage. Given the shoddy treatment and house of horror tales coming from some abortion clinics, it is irresponsible to lower the bar so that women will be even more vulnerable to poorly qualified practitioners.”
Dana Cody, Executive Director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation, also talked about the measure and urged California citizens to contact the nine Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee members who will consider this abortion expansion bill next Monday.
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.
Cody said the training for non-doctors to do abortions comes from the Health Workforce Pilot Project #171 (HWPP) and $ 3.5 Million for the HWPP program is funded by a non-disclosed private foundation.
“Abortion itself is an atrocity when committed by a physician. However, now there’s pending legislation that would train nurse practitioners 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,” Cody said. “By eliminating the physician from the abortion procedure, a woman will get less medical counseling than undergoing plastic surgery.”
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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.
“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.
Contact these Committee members and urge them to vote NO on SB 1338 in committee:
Senator Curren Price (Chair)
Los Angeles Phone: (213) 745-6656 Fax: (213) 745-6722
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4026 Fax: (916) 445-8899
Senator Bill Emmerson (Vice Chair)
Riverside Phone: (951) 680-6750 Fax: (951) 680-6757
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4037 Fax: (916) 327-2187
Senator Ellen Corbett
San Leandro Phone: (510) 577-2310 Fax: (510) 577-2308
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4010 Fax: (916) 327-2433
Senator Lou Correa
Santa Ana Phone: (714) 558-4400 Fax: (714) 558-4111
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4034 Fax: (916) 323-2323
Senator Ed Hernandez
West Covina Phone: (626) 430-2499 Fax: (626) 430-2494
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4024 Fax: (916) 445-0485
Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod
Montclair Phone: (909) 621-2783 Fax: (909) 621-7483
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4032 Fax: (916) 445-0128
Senator Tony Strickland
Simi Valley Phone: (805) 306-8886 Fax: (805) 306-8899
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4019 Fax: (916) 324-7544
Senator Juan Vargas
Chula Vista Phone: (619) 409-7690 Fax: (619) 409-7688
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4040 Fax: (916) 327-3522
Senator Mark Wyland
San Juan Capistrano Phone: (949) 489-9838 Fax: (949) 489-8354
Sacramento Phone: (916) 651-4038 Fax: (916) 446-7382
