Wisconsin women may soon get better access to emergency contraception (EC) — the backup method of birth control that can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex.
Yesterday, state Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson (D-Beloit) said she would revive legislation that would require hospitals to supply EC to sexual assault survivors who request it.
Rape survivor Amanda Harrington said that EC must be dispensed on site in emergency rooms, so that patients are not forced to search for the medication on their own:
"It is devastating to go the hospital. It is devastating to recount the story to a doctor. It is devastating to repeat it to a police officer. The prospect of acquiring EC from a pharmacy is terrifying...if the debilitating fear that a rape victim experiences after an assault does not stop her, the practical problems associated with finding a pharmacy in time may prevent her from obtaining EC."
Also known as the "morning-after pill,"EC can prevent an unintended pregnancy when started up to 120 hours — five days — after unprotected intercourse. The sooner it’s started, the better — it reduces the risk of pregnancy by 75-89 percent when the first dose is taken within 72 hours.
This news comes on the heels of another victory for advocates of sexual and reproductive health in Wisconsin. On March 2, Gov. Jim Doyle (D) announced that the state would reject roughly $600,000 in federal abstinence-only funding. If the state accepted this money, it could not be used to fund a comprehensive approach to sex education, i.e., one that includes discussion of both abstinence and birth control. Stephanie Marquis, spokesperson for the Department of Heath and Family Services, said:
"The issue is it requires abstinence-only education, and really the best model for preventing pregnancy and STDs is having multiple approaches...It’s not really a moral decision for us, it’s about [people’s] health."
Wisconsin now joins a handful of other states that have also rejected abstinence-only funding from the federal government. The move sends a strong message to President Bush, who recently requested $204 million for abstinence-only funding in his proposed FY2007 budget. It should also be welcome news to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who released a damning report in December 2004 finding that more than 80 percent of the abstinence-only curricula, used by more than two-thirds of federal grantees in 2003, "contain false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health."