Topeka ? An influential anti-abortion group on Friday urged Gov. Sam Brownback and the Kansas Legislature to reject an attempt by the Kansas University Medical Center to change an anti-abortion bill.

“Time to end University of Kansas abortion training,” said a call to action by Kansans for Life.

House Bill 2598, called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, would make numerous changes to state law sought by anti-abortion advocates. The House Federal and State Affairs Committee will probably vote on the measure next week.

One of the provisions of the bill states: “no health care services provided by any state agency, or any employee of a state agency while acting within the scope of such employee’s employment, shall include abortion.”

KU Medical Center’s residents are considered state employees. KU officials say accreditation requirements for obsetrics/gynecology residencies require that residents gain experience with induced abortion and complications due to abortion, unless they have a religious or moral objection. Abortions aren’t performed at the medical center or any facilities operated by the school. Students get that training elsewhere.

But Kathy Ostrowski, of Kansans for Life, disagreed with KU’s assessment. She said, “There is no professional reason that ob/gyn resident physicians have to learn how to destroy unborn children in order to achieve competency in pregnancy management, stillbirth evacuation or treating abortion complications.”

She urged people to contact Brownback and legislators “to stop abortion training by KU!”

Officials at the KU Medical Center declined to comment on Kansans for Life’s statements.