A Madison, Wisconsin, ob-gyn barred from providing abortion care to a patient under the state's 20-week abortion ban (Act 56) has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help the patient access abortion care out of state, Wisconsin Public Radio reports (Mills, Wisconsin Public Radio, 3/22).
Background
In July 2015, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed the ban into law, prohibiting all abortion care after 20 weeks of pregnancy except when the woman's life is in danger. The law does not include exceptions for instances of rape or incest, or when a fetal anomaly is discovered at that point in pregnancy.
In response to the ban, as well as several other antiabortion-rights laws, multiple abortion-rights groups have organized funding to help Wisconsin residents access abortion care in neighboring states (Women's Health Policy Report, 7/27/15).
Details on crowdfunding effort
Associated Physicians' Amanda Schmehil-Micklos established the GoFundMe page to help her patient access abortion care in Chicago after the fetus was diagnosed with a fatal anomaly. As of Tuesday, people have donated nearly $3,000 in donations for the woman's travel costs and the cost of the procedure.
Schmehil-Micklos said, "It's a very obvious example of what happens when government steps in to the physician-patient relationship." She explained, "As an ob-gyn, I could easily help my patient and we could have decided what was the appropriate treatment together. But because of the (20-week) ban, I'm not able to be there with her ... She has to go see a doctor she doesn't know, travel to a city she doesn't live in and miss work for several days" (Wisconsin Public Radio, 3/22).
