Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill Gets Assembly Hearing
Overwhelming bipartisan support for measure to ensure rights of rape survivors
Madison, WI – Law enforcement officials, health care providers, and victims rights' advocates from all over Wisconsin are coming to the State Capitol today to testify in support of the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill. (SB 129/AB 377)
"This bill is about whether Wisconsin will continue to allow two-thirds of hospitals to provide substandard care to rape victims," said Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. "We urge the Judiciary Committee to pass this critical legislation, without further delay, without gutting it, and without unnecessary and harmful amendments."
Today's hearing is the next step towards enacting this commonsense, bipartisan legislation, which would guarantee that all hospital emergency rooms provide information about and access to emergency birth control to victims of rape. Currently, only one-third of hospitals routinely provide this care – even though it is required by American Medical Association guidelines.
In May, the State Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill on a bipartisan vote of 27 to 6. The bill has stalled in the Republican-led Assembly, despite several Assembly Republican co-sponsors and tremendous grassroots pressure to pass the bill. According to several polls, over eighty percent of Wisconsin voters support the legislation.
As a member of the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Coalition, NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin has worked tirelessly to improve access to emergency birth control for sexual assault survivors, along with other groups like the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault. In support of this legislation, the organization has helped organize public education forums, testified at hearings around the state, collected thousands of petition signatures, conducted surveys of hospitals, organized grassroots activists statewide, and spent countless hours lobbying in the state capitol.
Only Pro-Life Wisconsin and Wisconsin Family Action, two extremist lobbying groups that oppose birth control, have registered in opposition to the bill.
Emergency contraception is a high dose of ordinary birth control pills that is highly effective at preventing pregnancy. For maximum effectiveness, it should be taken as soon as possible after sexual contact, but can help prevent pregnancy up to 120 hours after intercourse. If a woman is already pregnant, EC will not work; it does not affect a pregnancy.
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