States Seek to Provide Access to Emergency Contraception for Victims
of Sexual Assault
“Assault victims have already
experienced enough trauma. The least that our government can do is ensure that
health care provoders are offering the best quality care and access to as many
options as possible.”
– Maryland Delegate Cheryl Kagan (Flemming Fellow ’96)
New legislation has been introduced in three states to ensure that sexual
assault survivors have information about, and access to, emergency
contraceptives.
Each year, approximately 32,000 women who are sexually assaulted become
pregnant from their attackers. Yet most women do not realize that options to
prevent pregnancy after intercourse are available. In fact, nearly nine
in ten women of childbearing age have either never heard of emergency
contraception or do not know the facts about it. Unfortunately, many hospitals
and pharmacies that treat victims of sexual assault do not currently provide
women with this information.
Emergency contraception has been available for more than
25 years. Emergency contraception pills (ECPs) are 75-89% effective if taken
within 72 hours of intercourse. Comprised of a special dose of regular birth
control pills, emergency contraceptives can be used safely by most women, even
those who cannot use oral contraceptives for the long-term. ECPs do not cause
abortion; rather, they inhibit ovulation, fertilization or implantation before a pregnancy occurs.
(Much of the opposition to ECPs arises from the mistaken belief
that they cause abortion.)
“Emergency contraceptives are proven safe and effective. As states are
committing more resources to ending violence in our communities, state leaders
must ensure that women have access to the information they need to protect their
health and safety,” states Carol Tracy, Executive Director of the Women’s Law
Project.
The American Medical Association (AMA) standards of emergency care
require that rape survivors be counseled about the risk of pregnancy and
offered emergency contraception. Nevertheless, many health care facilities and
health care professionals do not provide information or access to emergency
contraceptive options. Eighty-two percent of Catholic hospitals do not provide
emergency contraceptives, according to a study by Catholics for a Free Choice. A
study conducted by NARAL of New York found that 54% of New York state hospital
emergency rooms do not provide emergency contraception to survivors of sexual
assault. “If hospitals continue to fail to require the standard of care for
treatment of rape victims, we believe that state legislation is called for that
will require providers to meet the standard,” stated the American Journal of
Public Health in a recent editorial.
In order to guarantee rape survivors the emergency care they need and
deserve, legislators in Illinois and New York introduced bills in 2000 to
require hospital emergency rooms to make emergency contraception available to
rape survivors, and Delegate Cheryl Kagan (Flemming Fellow `96) of Maryland
introduced a bill that would have established a task force to study procedures
for treating sexual assault survivors, including the availability of emergency
contraception.
It is expected that in 2001, similar legislation will be introduced in these
and many other states.
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16 states have laws that permit health care facilities,
health care professionals, or other individuals to refuse to provide
contraception or family planning, which may include emergency contraception (AR, CO, FL, GA, IL, ME, MA, MN, NJ, NY, OR,
TN, VA, WI, WY).
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For more information about emergency contraception for survivors
of sexual assault, click here.
4th Annual Grassroots Leadership Retreat
Emergency contraception for survivors of sexual assault was a topic of a
policy workshop during the Center for Policy Alternatives’ recently held
4th Annual
Grassroots Leadership Retreat, co-sponsored with the Rockefeller Family Fund and
Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) – Atlanta Chapter.
The Retreat
brought together grassroots women’s policy advocates from 32 states to discuss
critical policy issues at the state level. Other topics addressed included
entrepreneurship, IDAs, domestic violence, family leave benefits and EITCs.
For
more information about Grassroots Leaders contact Nora O’Connell, Director of
the Women and the Economy Program at (202) 956-5126 or
[email protected].
