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Associated Press, February 10, 2005 NJ, NY Officials
Say Rape Victims Need Emergency Contraception
Option DATELINE: WASHINGTON New Jersey and New York officials urged the Justice Department on Thursday to include in its guidelines for treating rape victims the option of receiving emergency contraception information, an issue supported by medical groups and victims' advocates but opposed by conservatives. A representative from New Jersey Sen. Jon Corzine's office and a rape victims' advocate from New Jersey urged an advisory committee looking at ways to strengthen the national Violence Against Women Act to include the emergency contraception option. "Of the 300,000 women who are sexually assaulted each year in this country, an estimated 25,000 will become pregnant," said Corzine, D-N.J., in remarks read to the committee. "The use of emergency contraception could significantly reduce this number of unintended pregnancies." Justice Department officials have said the matter would be reviewed but have made no guarantees. The issue was not included in the agency's National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations, released late last year. In written remarks submitted to the committee, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-Manhattan, said by not addressing the issue, the Justice Department "belies its disregard for women and their control over their sexual and reproductive health." Maloney tried to speak to the committee but was turned away because she had not registered in time for the public comments period, said Justice Department spokesman Eric Holland. Deborah Shepherd, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said her group and others believe that emergency contraception should be provided to rape victims instead of giving them a prescription for it. Shepherd told the committee about a 16-year-old girl who had been raped and was given a prescription for emergency contraception, more commonly known as morning-after pills, but several pharmacies did not have the medication. Wendy Wright, senior policy director of the Washington, D.C.-based Concerned Women for America, which is opposed to abortion, disagreed. "What they seem to want is to have the Department of Justice order doctors and hospitals to do something that would violate their consciences," said Wright, who did not speak at the meeting. The availability of emergency contraceptives to rape victims varies nationwide. In New Jersey, the state Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on a bill that would require hospitals and emergency departments to provide rape victims with information about emergency contraceptives and the pills themselves upon request. The measure was passed unanimously by the state Assembly in December. Last year, Mississippi lawmakers passed a bill that allows all types of health care workers and facilities to refuse performing virtually any service they object to on moral or religious grounds. Anti-abortion organizations and a group called Pharmacists for Life are urging pharmacists to refuse to distribute emergency contraceptives. On the Net: Justice Department guidelines: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ovw/206554.pdf << Associated Press -- 2/10/05 >>
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