Idaho lawmakers rethink University of Washington partnership over school’s abortion training

Abortion training at the University of Washington (UW) recently prompted Idaho lawmakers to propose legislation that would have essentially severed the state’s ties to UW. Part of the reasoning was because the University “elected not to sign an amendment to the contract with Idaho, restricting the use of Idaho state funds for abortion,” according to the legislation’s sponsors.

“Pro-life advocates have raised concerns about the University of Washington’s abortion practices in the past. In 2022, pro-life activists said they caught the public institution storing aborted babies and fetal parts in brown paper bags,” The College Fix reported at the time, later stating, “In addition to lawmakers’ concerns about abortion, they said they also asked for 10 more student slots in the WWAMI program in 2022, but the university still has not provided them, according to the Statesman.”

However, despite the fact that UW has a robust abortion training program, the initial legislation stalled and new legislation has since been proposed.

Bill focuses on university with abortion training programs 

Originally, House Bill 176  was intended to “direct the Idaho State Board of Education to partner with two other medical schools in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming or Montana by 2027-28,” according to a February report from the Idaho Statesman.

Rep. Dustin Manwaring (R-Pocatello), the bill’s sponsor, pointed to abortion training as part of the reason, stating that “the University of Washington could use Idaho state funds to teach physicians how to perform abortions,” claimed The Chronicle.

My Northwest added that Manwaring “argues that the current partnership doesn’t align with ‘Idaho values’ and criticized the UW for ignoring requests to increase the number of Idaho students, adding that “the big concern is that the UW would use Idaho taxpayer dollars to teach doctors how to perform abortions.”

The bill’s sponsors issued a statement of purpose which read, in part:

Idaho does not have its own state-run medical school, requiring partnerships to deliver medical education to Idaho students. This legislation removes the statutory requirement that Idaho participate in the University of Washington’s WWAMI (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho) medical education program.

As a growing state with an aging population, Idaho requires more medical doctors, and when the Idaho Legislature recently passed a resolution to expand seats in WWAMI for Idaho students, the University of Washington was unable to meet this need, and also elected not to sign an amendment to the contract with Idaho, restricting the use of Idaho state funds for abortion.

UW says it will not use Idaho dollars to fund abortion

“At the hearing, UW School of Medicine Vice Dean Suzanne Allen said the school would agree to Idaho’s abortion stipulation,” added The Chronicle.

Allen claimed that the university “does not spend any Idaho funds on abortion care or abortion training.”

Idaho Ed News confirmed this, writing that “On Feb. 14, the same day of the heated House Education hearing, the UW signed a statement asserting that it uses no Idaho taxpayer dollars ‘for abortions or abortion-related activities.’ It’s taken a while, but UW has said, in writing, that is complying with a 2021 state law forbidding the use of tax dollars for abortion.

Bill stalls, new legislation proposed

Despite the agreement, media has reported that HB176 has since stalled and the Idaho Legislature introduced a new bill this week to replace it, which has yet to be published to the legislative website.

According to DNews.com, Rep. Manwaring presented a new bill to the House Education Committee, which “would eliminate at least 10 Idaho seats from WWAMI — which stands for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho — and move to add seats in another medical school program…. Manwaring’s previous proposal, HB 176, would have withdrawn Idaho from WWAMI completely, starting in the 2027-28 academic year.”

This first proposal — House Bill 176, co-sponsored by House Speaker Mike Moyle (R-Star), Manwaring, and Senate Education Committee Chairman Dave Lent — “remains on the House floor, awaiting a possible vote. That bill remains in play, but Manwaring said the new bill offers an alternative to ending the WWAMI partnership,” reported Idaho Ed News.

UW abortion training programs detailed 

Rep. Manwaring had good reason for concern where the University of Washington was concerned.

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision, Barbara A. Goff, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Surgeon-in-Chief at the University of Washington Medical Center, wrote, “This ruling fundamentally changed how we deliver critical reproductive health services and deliver education across the WWAMI region. Putting reproductive rights in the hands of state governments directly impacted our department… Each state’s newly enacted laws impose different restrictions, ranging from orders that prevent physicians from discussing abortion to limitations placed on available birth control methods. Fortunately, Washington state remains supportive of women’s reproductive rights, and our department continues to safeguard women’s health.”

WWAMI is the University of Washington’s regional medical school. UW has multiple School of Medicine locations in Seattle and is also listed as a Ryan Residency program location.

The well-funded Ryan Residency abortion training program has trained more than 7,000 obstetricians and gynecologists in how to intentionally kill preborn human beings by induced abortion, with upwards of 100 residency training programs nationwide since its founding in 1999.

UW’s “Complex Family Planning” fellowship’s mission is to “develop obstetrician gynecologist leaders in complex abortion and contraception through training in clinical care, research, and education.”

According to the Society of Family Planning (SFP) website, “The Fellowship is an [Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education] ACGME-accredited, two-year fellowship for obstetrics and gynecology (Ob-Gyn) residency graduates focused on subspecialist training in research, teaching, and clinical practice in complex abortion and contraception.”

“Fellows graduate with advanced training consistent with their career goals and complete a research project focused on clinical or psychosocial aspects of abortion or contraception,” the Fellowship’s website at UW states.

An overview of the education program at UW includes:

• Supervised training in complex family planning and abortion clinical skills

• Teaching and mentoring skills through engagement with the Ryan Residency Training Program

• Training in complex contraception and abortion care through the Family Planning Fellowship

• Participation in advocacy and policy training activities, including intensive media and advocacy skills via Physicians for Reproductive Health’s Leadership Training Academy, and ACOG advocacy programs.

“The fellowship is based primarily at the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC), and includes rotations at Cedar River Clinics and Planned Parenthood,” the Fellowship’s website at UW added.

“These settings include in-hospital outpatient abortion focused on complex second-trimester cases, and three different outpatient family planning clinics whose medical directors provide leadership and mentoring: two free-standing clinics (Cedar River Clinics and Planned Parenthood), and a full service ob/gyn department with three hospitals,” the clinical program overview states.

Faculty in the Division of Complex Family Planning include Sarah W. Prager, MD, MAS, Division Chief and an abortion provider who worked for Planned Parenthood and commits abortions at Cedar River abortion facility. Prager has claimed that her “guiding principle in work is the quotation by Margaret Sanger: ‘No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.’”

Sanger is the founder of Planned Parenthood, a eugenicist who sought out and partnered with white supremacists to achieve her mission.

Others on the program’s “team” include:

• Emily M. Godfrey, MD, MPH, FAAFP a long-time abortionist who openly promotes so-called “medication abortion.”

• Lyndsey S. Benson, MD, MAS

• Jennifer Chin, MD, MS

• Elizabeth Harrington, MD, MPH

• Lauren Owens, MD, MPH

• Ivana Thompson, MD, MCSI

UW also offers “electives” designed to “introduce 4th year medical students to first trimester abortion care and family planning through direct involvement under the supervision of family medicine and OBGYN providers.”

“UW is proud to have long-offered training in abortion and contraception for all learners. We remain committed to providing this training at all levels of medical education and believe that such training is critical for those who hope to safely care for people who can become pregnant,” UW medicine wrote online.

As Idaho lawmakers continue their debate over medical school funding, lawmakers in other states may want to review whether their state dollars are funding higher education institutions which promote and train in abortion.