Letter: Area lawmakers wrong to oppose rape victims bill
by Kathie Norman, Sheboygan Falls ¦ The Sheboygan Press ¦ 19 December 2007 Last week, the state Assembly passed the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill (AB 377) 56-41. Unfortunately, Reps. Dan LeMahieu of Oostburg and Steve Kestell of Elkhart Lake voted against it. Last May, the Senate also passed the bill, 27-6. Sen. Joe Leibham was one of only six senators to vote against this bill. Gov. Jim Doyle will soon sign this bill into law. The Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill requires hospital emergency rooms to inform rape victims about emergency contraception and dispense it upon request to prevent pregnancy after an assault. Emergency contraception is a high dosage of birth control pills that, if taken within 12 hours, is 99.5 percent effective in preventing pregnancies. This bill had overwhelmingly bi-partisan support in both the Senate and Assembly. Republicans and Democrats alike understand that victims of rape or incest deserve immediate access to safe, efficient methods of pregnancy prevention. How can our local elected officials explain their votes? How can they justify turning their backs on victims of sexual assault? How can they justify putting their own anti-birth control agenda ahead of the needs of rape victims? This bill is a critical step forward, because at present only 33 percent of Wisconsin hospital emergency rooms provide all rape victims with information and access to emergency contraception. There are over 300,000 rapes reported each year, with about 25,000 resulting in pregnancies, and of course well over half of those pregnancies end in abortions. Emergency contraception could prevent almost all of these pregnancies if it was widely dispensed. It is important to note that emergency contraception is not a form of abortion itself – it prevents pregnancy in the first place. These legislators are so opposed to birth control that they would prefer a victim of rape or incest suffer the horror of becoming pregnant, and then potentially have an abortion. It makes no sense. Shame on Sen. Leibham and Reps. Lemahieu and Kestell for not supporting Compassionate Care for Rape Victims.
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