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Planned Parenthood Telemedicine Program |
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Operation
Rescue Seeks To Block Planned Parenthood's Iowa Telemedicine
Program
Other topics:
Patient
Deductible Data,
Intensity-Modulated
Radiotherapy (IMRT),
Electronic Health Record
August 23, 2010
The anti-abortion rights group Operation Rescue is requesting
that the Iowa Board of Medicine prohibit Planned Parenthood of
the Heartland from dispensing medical abortion pill to patients
in rural Iowa communities through a telemedicine network, the
Des Moines Register reports (Petroski, Des Moines Register,
8/20). In a letter to the board on Friday, Operation Rescue,
Iowans for LIFE and about 60 other antiabortion-rights groups
and individuals said they believe the practice is dangerous to
women's health. |
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In addition, Operation Rescue
officials said Thursday that they have filed complaints with
county attorneys in 10 Iowa counties, alleging that the
telemedicine system violates a state law that requires abortion
procedures to be performed by physicians. In June, the group
asked Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (D) to open a criminal
investigation of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland Miller's
chief of staff said last week that such matters are under the
jurisdiction of county attorneys.
The telemedicine system -- the first of its kind in the U.S. --
allows Des Moines-based physicians to conduct video
consultations with patients in rural clinics who are seeking
abortion services and are no more than nine weeks pregnant. If a
physician decides that a patient is an appropriate candidate for
a medical abortion, he or she can use a computer command to
remotely open a drawer in front of the patient. The patient then
takes the first dose of the medication while the physician
watches.
More than 1,500 women have accessed medical abortion through the
system. Jill June, president of Planned Parenthood of the
Heartland, said Operation Rescue is concerned about women's
access to abortion, not the use of telemedicine. "Our
telemedicine program was thoroughly researched to meet all legal
requirements before we implemented," she added.
The medical board is meeting in October to review materials
related to a broad range of applications and practices related
to telemedicine. The board's current policy statement on
telemedicine was adopted in the 1990s (Des Moines Register,
8/20). |
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