Hospital emergency contraception bill becomes law
by Jenn Karlman ¦ WBAY Green Bay ¦ 17 March 2008 Hospitals across the state are now required to tell rape victims about drugs that can prevent pregnancy. It's now the law, but Governor Jim Doyle's signature on the bill has not silenced the debate on an issue that's divided the state for years. All Wisconsin emergency rooms must offer education and access to emergency contraception, such as the so-called morning-after pill. For Brown County's Sexual Assault Response Center, the law is a victory. "Many people may choose to not take the medication at all, but if they don't know it even exists they can't make an informed choice," the sexual assault center's Jeanie Kurka-Reimer said. "It's a sad day in Wisconsin," Pro-Life Wisconsin director Peggy Hamill said. Pro-Life Wisconsin argues life begins at conception and that the information and the drug should not be offered to rape victims. "Wesupport women who have been raped, but the act of killing another individual in order to protect that woman can never be accepted by society," Hamill argued. For Kurka-Reimer, who sees hundreds of rape victims every year, mandating doctors to give out contraception is long overdue. "This isn't about abortion. This is about preventing a pregnancy from occurring," she said. | 
