by Clyde Winter ¦Greater Milwaukee Today ¦ 20 December 2007

Last week the Wisconsin Assembly voted 56 to 41 in favor of a bill that was overwhelmingly approved last spring, 27 to 6, by strong majorities of both parties in the state Senate. So it will finally become law - after a final reading in the Assembly and the Governor signs it - following five years of obstruction by a small but powerful faction.

Over eight out of 10 Wisconsin residents express approval for this bill, and almost two-thirds of state legislators voted for it this year. So we’re not talking about a slim margin here.

Learn more about the Compassionate Care for Victims of Rape bill, (with links to additional references and to support and opposition to this law) at my "Hearts and Minds" blog in the "women’s-rights" category.

The bill, AB377/SB129, states that any emergency care hospital in Wisconsin is required to provide accurate information to sexual assault victims about the availability of FDA approved nonprescription medication that can prevent a pregnancy from occurring, and to provide access to such medication if the victim requests.

This is the professional standard of medical care for victims of rape and incest.

Emergency contraception medication is virtually 100 percent effective at preventing a pregnancy from becoming established if taken within 12 hours. It does not, and cannot abort an existing pregnancy. And just for good measure, the bill does not require a hospital to provide such medication to a person who is already pregnant.

If a victim of sexual assault is provided quick access to emergency contraception, a pregnancy resulting from that criminal attack can be prevented.

The law is needed because only one-third of Wisconsin emergency facilities now provides that information and access to medication to all victims. This severely impacts those victims who do not happen to know about this medical care option, those for whom time is fast running out, and those from rural areas, who happen to find themselves in one of the other two-thirds of hospitals, in the aftermath of a sexual assault.

A faction of those in the organized, so-called, "pro-life" movement, who have a personal belief that no one should be able to use these contraceptives, strenuously opposes this standard medical care option.

Another faction of the "right-to-life" movement, which opposes abortion under any circumstances, has declined to take a position on this bill, despite the following facts:

- Emergency contraception cannot abort an existing pregnancy;

- Sexual assault results in some 25,000 pregnancies in the U.S. each year;

- Early access to emergency contraception would prevent nearly all of the 16,000 abortions that result from rape.

Now hear this:

This law will not cause abortions, but it could prevent hundreds of abortions every year in Wisconsin.

It will allow a victim of sexual assault to begin to regain control over her own life, rather than hold her future hostage to a terrible gamble on whether the violent criminal act of a psychopath will continue to unnecessarily dominate her life.

Not one emergency hospital opposes this law. That’s a good law.

Do you know where your state legislators stood on this bill?

Go to www.legis.state.wi.us/2007/data/ AB377hst.html and click on the link near the bottom of the page where it says, adopted "Ayes 56 Noes 41" to find out how your Assembly representative voted.

Go to www.legis.state.wi.us/2007/data/ SB129hst.html and click on the link that says "Ayes 27 Noes 6" to find out how your state senator voted.

Bad news comes in threes, and here’s the bad news, by the numbers, for those of us who live in Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties:

1. Only six of the 33 Wisconsin state Senators voted against this bill, and against an overwhelming majority of Senators of each of the two parties last May. Four of the six Senators who voted "no" represent residents of Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties. (Those four are Senators Grothman, Kedzie, S. Fitzgerald, and Lazich.)

2. Every Assembly representative of every single resident of Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties voted against this bill. If you live in any of these three counties, you can be certain that your Assembly representative voted against Compassionate Care for Victims of Rape, and the opinion of 80 percent of Wisconsin citizens.

3. Every signle one of the Republican leaders of both the Wisconsin Senate and the Wisconsin Assembly actively opposed and voted against this bipartisan bill that resoundingly passed both houses on roll call votes. This is a profound disconnect between current Republican legislative leaders, on one hand, and rank and file legislators and the clear will of the people, on the other hand.

Unless you’re among those louts who think that a woman or girl has no right to prevent a pregnancy from occurring, once a man "scores," no matter how he does it, we can all be proud and relieved that the Wisconsin Legislature has finally voted resoundingly in favor of this bill, so needed to protect the rights, and the future, of women who have unfortunately become victims of sexual assault.

However, we who are residents of the three counties of Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha should be ashamed of our legislators, and work and vote to replace them with more humane, less dogmatic representatives. And let’s get new, more truly representative Republican leadership in the Wisconsin legislature.

This isn’t the only time, or the only issue, or the only way, that these unchallenged incumbents who call the shots have let us down and shamed us.