TO: Dr. Jerry Prevo

Dear Dr. Prevo,

We The Concerned are sure you've been following the ongoing debate touched off by Gov. Parnell's veto of the Legislature's approved expansion of the Denali KidCare program because it would increase the state's role in funding medically necessary abortions and abortion-related services for disadvantaged women.

Of course, we're a little concerned that the Legislature apparently didn't mean to approve that money. Many lawmakers have gone on record saying that a special session to overturn the governor's veto is unlikely. But that's not why we're writing.

It appears the governor is comfortable with the state paying for some medically necessary abortion-related services, just not more medically necessary abortion-related services. Either way, the state's role in this regard was very clearly outlined in 2001: The Alaska Supreme Court found that if the state pays for medical care with Medicaid funds, it must also pay for medically necessary abortion-related services.

The key phrase is "medically necessary," and we always thought that was pretty clear-cut. But apparently we were wrong.

Some people are starting to say now that the phrase is just too vague and that the state needs to clarify it. Until the state narrows the language, the thinking goes, doctors can interpret the law to mean they're allowed to provide state-funded "medically awesome" abortion-related services.

It's not as if the public can help policymakers figure this mess out. After all, who's to say what's medically necessary? And medically necessary for whom? For the state of Alaska? The governor? Religious leaders? We The Concerned? Opponents of abortion rights say one thing, and supporters of abortion rights say another. Sheesh, it's confusing.

So we got to thinking. You're a doctor; maybe you could clear the whole thing up!

Your hospital, The Anchorage Baptist Temple, appears to be one of the largest obstetric facilities in the state. And since you went into private practice in Alaska in 1971, your list of patients has grown to include over 2,000 people! From what We The Concerned have been reading lately, that makes you one of the most qualified doctors in the state from a public policy standpoint.

We're leery of asking for your help, though. One recent editorial (from a newspaper which, by the way, we've been concerned about lately) argues that doctors are just too "subjective" to be trusted with determining what's medically necessary and that there's just not enough "accountability" for them when it comes to abortion. The Concerned totally agree, it isn't as if they put their licenses on the line when they approve a procedure or make a diagnosis.

Really though, the best way to ensure that Denali KidCare doesn't fund any abortion-related services at all is probably too complicated, too challenging for Alaska's lawmakers. If all families in Alaska made more than 175 percent of the federal poverty level, or if every family could afford its own health care, the program wouldn't have any members, would it?

Because that solution seems even less likely than the Legislature calling a special session during an election year -- Dr. Prevo, report to the O.R., stat!