With its fiscal agenda mostly complete, members of the state?s Republican leadership now are turning their attention to social issues. On Tuesday, Assembly Republicans introduced a bill backed by an anti-abortion group that would make it illegal to provide or use for experimentation a “fetal body part.” Many fear the legislation would have a “chilling effect” on a range of biomedical research conducted at places such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
…. “I think what’s particularly concerning is the motivation behind this legislation; it’s based on either a lack of understanding or misplaced view of what actually goes into the research that goes on at the university,” says Mark Bugher, the director of University Research Park and a special assistant to new UW-Madison interim chancellor David Ward. “I read the memo from Rep. Jacque and it sounded pretty ominous but not based on any evidence or fact.”