Bill: Hospitals must offer Plan B in rapes

HARRISBURG - Lawmakers in the state House of Representatives are bracing for a fight over a bill that would require hospitals to provide victims of sexual assault with access to emergency contraception.

The purpose is simple, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery): to allow women who have been traumatized by rape to decide whether they want to protect themselves from an unwanted pregnancy.

The measure, House Bill 288, would mandate that all hospitals, regardless of religious affiliation, provide victims with information about emergency contraception, alert them that the hospital can give it to them, and do so if requested.

More than half of all hospitals in the state currently do not provide emergency contraception, Leach said. Since introducing the bill, he has heard from several rape victims who said they were never even told about emergency contraception and ended up pregnant, he added.

But the legislation faces opposition from the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, which believes the emergency contraception conflicts with the teachings of the Catholic Church - namely, that life begins with conception.

The House's full membership is scheduled to consider the bill today on second reading, which means it could be amended on the floor. A final vote could come as early as next week.

"I think all of us, even those of us who don't know someone who has been victimized, need to put ourselves in the position of a victim, to try to understand what that feels like," Leach said.

Leach and other proponents of the bill say religious beliefs should not play a role in determining the types of emergency treatments provided to patients.

There are religions, he said, that oppose blood transfusions, but hospitals are required to offer them.

Some people believe AIDS is punishment for sin, he said, "but we would never allow doctors to withhold treatment from anyone struck with the illness."

"We are all free to practice our religion," Leach said, "but if we put ourselves in a position to provide emergency medical care, our right to practice religion ends when we start making life-changing, adverse decisions for other people."

Rep. Chris Ross (R., Chester), a supporter of the bill, said the legislation did provide an opt-out for doctors morally opposed to the emergency contraception drug, known as Plan B. Those doctors do not have to offer it - but the facilities where they work do.

But the opt-out clause does not address some of the concerns of the Catholic Conference and other antiabortion groups.

"If there is any chance that a life has been created, we believe it should be protected," said Amy Beisel, spokeswoman for the Catholic Conference, which is lobbying against the bill.

Plan B contains a dose of the hormone levonorgestrel, also found in birth control pills. Plan B, however, contains a higher dose, which works to prevent pregnancy, mainly by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary.

It is possible that Plan B could also prevent fertilization of an egg released from the ovary, or attachment of the fertilized egg in the uterus.

It is the latter - preventing the attachment of a fertilized egg in the uterus - that the Catholic Conference and other antiabortion organizations oppose. For them, that is destroying a human life.

Proponents of Plan B want the drug available at hospitals because it is the most effective the sooner it is taken - up to 95 percent if taken within 24 hours after intercourse.

And for rape and sexual assault victims, that window is critical, said Rep. Dan Frankel (D., Allegheny), who supports the bill.

"This is not an issue about abortion," said Frankel. "This is about protecting women who have been victimized . . . who at their weakest moment, should be offered every single available remedy, without any second thought, at every health-care provider across Pennsylvania."

Several other states, including California, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, have similar laws requiring hospitals to provide emergency contraception.

In some of those states, supporters of House Bill 288 said yesterday, Roman Catholic organizations have withdrawn their opposition.

But Beisel, of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, said that laws in some of those other states contain additional opt-outs that Pennsylvania's proposed bill does not.

The Conference and other antiabortion organizations believe that when a drug destroys a fertilized egg, it is the equivalent of taking human life.

"That is the root of our concern," said Beisel. "If we believe that life begins at conception, then we are talking about treating two patients, not just one."