'Conscience clause' likely to pass Senate
11:16 PM 10/07/03
Phil Brinkman State government reporter

A bill pitting patients' wishes against the rights of doctors, pharmacists and other medical professionals to refuse to grant those wishes continued to divide lawmakers Tuesday. <

After four hours of often-emotional testimony, the Senate Committee on Health, Children, Families, Aging and Long-Term Care declined to vote on the bill (AB67). But passage in the Republican-controlled Senate appears likely after the GOP-led Assembly approved the measure this spring. <

Since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized most abortions in 1973, health workers in Wisconsin have been allowed to opt out of performing abortions or sterilizations. <

But recent developments including research on fetal stem cells and the abortion pill RU-486 are forcing medical professionals to choose between their conscience and their profession, said Rep. Jean Hundertmark, R-Clintonville, the bill's author. <

The bill would expand the list of procedures they could refuse to participate in to include anything that destroys a human embryo or involves transplanting cells from such an embryo. <

The measure, known as the "conscience clause" bill, also seeks to protect doctors and others from professional and legal repercussions for refusing to grant a patient's or family's wishes to withhold food and water for terminally ill patients. <

"This bill does not ban any medical procedures currently practiced. It only serves to protect the health-care workers who are directed to perform the procedures," Hundertmark said. Patients who still want the procedures can seek them from doctors willing to perform them, she said. <

But opponents of the bill said it elevates the rights of doctors above those they're duty-bound to serve. <

"The 'conscience clause' .