Wisconsin Right to Life state Director Dan Miller filed a second round of complaints with the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board, demanding that the agency investigate Wisconsin doctors illegally performing abortions in defiance of state law.
Miller (pictured above) filed his first complaints late last month after Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced it would resume abortions at its Madison and Milwaukee clinics.
Planned Parenthood is leaning heavily on a Dane County District Court judge’s ruling in July that declared an 1849 state law on murdering the unborn doesn’t apply to consensual abortions.
But liberal Judge Diane Schlipper’s interpretation of the law — dormant for decades before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 — could be on shaky legal ground.
The statute states:
(1) Any person, other than the mother, who intentionally destroys the life of an unborn child is guilty of a Class H felony.
(2) Any person, other than the mother, who does either of the following is guilty of a Class E felony:
(a) Intentionally destroys the life of an unborn quick child; or
(b) Causes the death of the mother by an act done with intent to destroy the life of an unborn child.
The section does not apply to a “therapeutic abortion” that is “necessary, or is advised by 2 other physicians as necessary, to save the life of the mother.”
Schlipper did not issue an injunction or a declaratory judgment, so the law hasn’t been effectively stalled. A lawsuit filed by pro-abortion liberal Attorney General Josh Kaul is moving through the state court system and appears destined to be headed for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Until then, Miller and other pro-life advocates said, Planned Parenthood and its abortionists are violating state law.
“Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced on 9.14.2023 that they would resume abortion services at both their Milwaukee and Dane County abortion centers on Monday, September 18, 2023,” Miller wrote in the second complaint. “Abortion is illegal in the state of Wisconsin. Medical professionals typically don’t brag about breaking the law, but this organization and the people they employ are openly flouting the law and breaking it by murdering children in the womb, which is a class H felony in the state of Wisconsin.”
Miller cites physicians Susan Pfleger and Natasha Travis in the complaint. Pfleger is listed as an obstetrician-gynecologist practicing in Milwaukee, specializing in women’s health, particularly the female reproductive system, pregnancy and childbirth. She has served as a physician at Planned Parenthood. Travis, formerly of Milwaukee, now appears to be working in Atlanta healthcare. Also listed on the complaint, Fredrik Broekhuizen, former medical director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. He died in 2018.
Miller previously filed complaints against Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, its medical director, Dr. Kathy King, and OB-GYN Dr. Kristin Lyerly.
Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Wisconsin, recently told WISN-12 that business has been brisk since the two clinics resumed offering abortions. She said “appointments were filled within 24 hours, and that’s remained pretty steady, which really underscores the critical need that was here in the state of Wisconsin.”
Atkinson would not say how many abortions the clinics had performed at that point.
Planned Parenthood reportedly had stopped performing abortions in the wake of last year’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Miller said Planned Parenthood’s sidewalk counselors have witnessed women walking out of the Milwaukee clinic with all signs of having had an abortion.
It’s not clear what insurance providers are covering abortions in a state with criminal prosecution potentially hanging over abortionists’ heads. Planned Parenthood officials could not be reached for comment, and the Medical Examining Board did not return The Wisconsin Daily Star’s request for comment.
The Medical Examining Board, at least for now, is chaired by Dr. Sheldon Wasserman, a former liberal lawmaker and abortion activist.
Miller said he believes the abortionists are self-funding.
“Planned Parenthood has $26 million in assets, according to their last annual report. And they have donors who can write a check for a million dollars at the drop of a dime,” he said.
Planned Parenthood Wisconsin did tell the Wisconsin State Journal that complaints based on PPWI’s resumption of abortion services, and against the physicians providing that care, are frivolous and politically motivated.”
Liberal district attorneys in Dane and Milwaukee counties have pledged not to prosecute physicians performing abortions under the law. Pro-life advocates have accused the DAs of a dereliction of their duty.
Atkinson said Planned Parenthood would soon resume abortions at its clinic in Sheboygan. Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski has said if he receives a referral that the clinic is violating the law he would “determine whether the case is worthy of prosecution, but I do believe I could lawfully initiate a prosecution.”
Urmanksi did not return The Daily Star’s request seeking comment.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Dan Miller” by Pro-Life Wisconsin.
