There was another troubling instance over the weekend of a rape victim being denied access to Plan B contraception due to the personal beliefs of medical personnel.
According to local news reports, a young woman was sexually assaulted as she was returning to her car Saturday night after Tampa's Gasparilla parade. She managed to escape and reported the incident to the Tampa PD, however while undergoing a rape exam at Tampa General Hospital authorities discovered the woman had an outstanding four-year old warrant for her arrest for failing to make restitution for an incident that occurred when she was a juvenile.
The young woman was hauled off to jail and denied bond. She was also denied medical care because the jail medical supervisor on duty won't dispense the Morning After Pill due to her personal beliefs:
"The medical supervisor would not allow her to take the pill because she said it was against her, the supervisor's, religion. So, here we have a medical supervisor imposing her beliefs on a rape victim," claimed the victim's attorney Virlyn Moore. "As a human being, how someone could be so violated by this monster and then the system comes along and rapes her again psychologically and emotionally - it's outrageous and unconscionable."
"At this point, we're very concerned about the welfare of this young woman," said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. "There's a lot of unanswered questions about exactly how this unfolded we are going to get to the bottom of it."
If someone has personal beliefs that infringe on the rights of others, shouldn't it be incumbent on THEM to find employment where they aren't faced with this kind of moral dilemma?Local Fox News Report
Updated:
Today's St. Pete Times fleshes out the story a little more:
Police jail rape victim for two days
A jail worker with religious objections blocked her from ingesting a morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy, her attorney says, keeping her from taking the required second dose for more than 24 hours longer than recommended.
and later in the article:
A doctor had given her Plan B, the so-called "morning-after pill" approved by the FDA, to prevent pregnancy. But Moore said a medical supervisor at the jail refused to let her take the second of the two pills on Sunday.
For the emergency contraceptive to work, the first pill must be taken within three days of unprotected sex and the second 12 hours after the first. The woman had already taken the first pill soon after the assault Saturday, Moore said. She was unable to take the second pill until Monday afternoon. The jail allowed it, he said, after media inquiries.
Debbie Carter, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, said she couldn't comment on the situation because medical information is private. But she said medical service policies are set by Armor Correctional Health Services, which contracts with the jail.
Armor's corporate offices were closed late Monday when the St. Petersburg Times tried to reach a spokesperson.
New Update:
TPD issues apology, change in policy
And a local (CBS News) report added tonight that the woman's family had to post bail in the amount due for restitution to get her released but are expecting to get that money back as he (her attorney) has receipts showing 19 payments from 2003 to 2005 to cover her court ordered restitution. In addition, Armour Medical, is refusing to answer any questions about this case, but the news reporter highlighted verbiage from their contract saying it could be terminated if there was dissatisfaction with their level of services. More to come as the news stories are updated.