by Richie Rathsack ¦ the Badger Herald ¦ 29 February 2008
After years of debate and recent technical holdups, a bill mandating that rape victims receive emergency contraception upon request passed its final legislative hurdle in the state Senate Thursday.
The Assembly also considered a bill to reword the state’s partial-birth abortion ban.
The bill that would require hospitals to give victims of sexual assault information on emergency contraception — often called Plan B — and to administer the drugs upon request passed in the Senate by a 25-6 vote Thursday.
Sara Finger, director of Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health, said she was happy with the way the Senate voted.
“It is a historic vote and an incredible victory for women’s health in Wisconsin,” Finger said. “We’re ecstatic to know this long-overdue legislation can now be sent to the governor to be made into law after a long, six-year fight.It’s the first pro-women’s health piece of legislation to be passed in over a decade.”
According to Finger, more than two-thirds of Wisconsin hospitals do not unconditionally provide emergency contraception to rape victims.
Co-sponsor of the bill, Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, called the Assembly “irresponsible” in not getting the legislation to the Senate again sooner.
“Rape and incest victims shouldn’t be forced to go from hospital to hospital looking for treatment that they have a legal right to,” Taylor said in an e-mail to The Badger Herald. “The crime and its consequences are just too severe.”
Sen. Mary Lazich, R- New Berlin, was one of the six senators who voted against the bill.
“What this bill does is mandate that hospitals must administer emergency contraception,” Lazich said. “Hospitals in the state don’t need any more mandates from the state of Wisconsin.”
Other opponents of the legislation have argued the high dose of birth control in emergency contraception can amount to a “chemical abortion” in some cases and hospital workers who are morally opposed to the drug shouldn’t be forced to administer it.
