Corrections Appended Below

Washington University officials have apologized to Saint Louis University for linking the Jesuit university to an abortion program for physicians.

The University listed Saint Louis University (SLU) as collaborating with the Washington University School of Medicine and Planned Parenthood in the Family Planning Fellowship, which teaches medical students how to perform abortions.

The University administration quickly extended an apology to SLU and made changes to the program’s Web site after a representative from SLU notified the University of the error on Sept. 18, according to medical school spokeswoman Joni Westerhouse.

“We sincerely regret any problems this caused,” Westerhouse wrote in a statement to Student Life.

SLU noticed the error on the fellowship’s Web site that linked the Jesuit institution with the fellowship’s mission and research.

The program’s Web site originally stated, “Washington University’s School of Medicine is collaborating with Planned Parenthood—St. Louis Region and St. Louis University to accomplish the goals of the Family Planning Fellowship.”

SLU officials denied even knowing about the abortion program and said they were shocked to see that the institution was mentioned.

Two Washington University faculty members involved in the program are listed as professors at SLU. Jeff Fowler, associate vice president for marketing and communications at SLU, confirmed that the professors mentioned do not teach anything concerning abortion at the Catholic institution.

Fowler could not be reached for comment.

“When WU’s fellowship program began in 2007, SLU was a possible resource for fellows who wished to seek a master’s degree in public health, but there was no established collaboration or partnership between the programs,” Westerhouse said in the statement.

The University’s error prompted eight people to stand outside Barnes-Jewish Hospital in protest on Tuesday, reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

According to the University’s statement, the fellowship’s mission is to “develop specialists focused on research, teaching and clinical practice in contraception and abortion” and provide “comprehensive training in contraception and family planning. The two-year fellowship is one of 20 offered by top medical schools in the nation.”

Every year, the program accepts one licensed physician interested in family planning as a fellow.

The program’s Web site states that the University is one of 20 participating schools in the fellowship. Others include Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago and Columbia University.

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Tags: abortion, Family Planning Fellowship, Jeff Fowler, Jesuit, Saint Louis University, Washington University School of Medicine and Planned Parenthood

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 am and is filed under Academics, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.