At least 27 New York hospitals do not automatically offer emergency contraception to rape victims seeking treatment. This, according to an Associated Press story in the Jan. 28 issue of the Buffalo News, amounts to 14 percent of the hospitals surveyed by the state Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Family Planning Advocates of New York State.
While many of these hospitals will not deny emergency contraceptive pills - some simply refer patients to their regular doctors or other facilities - it is imperative that a bill currently being debated in the state legislature is passed to require all publicly funded New York hospitals to offer the drug, as no subsidized hospital should be allowed to refuse the administration of this treatment.
Private hospitals that receive no such funding, on the other hand, should have the discretion to choose whether to offer emergency contraception.
The 85 percent of hospitals surveyed that do currently have a policy of offering these modified birth control pills - containing higher amounts of estrogen - should be the standard in the state and in the nation. The state Department of Health already requires hospitals to have some standing policy on the treatment of rape victims as it relates to this medication, but that is not enough. The bill currently in the legislature must make this protocol legally binding with state funding made revocable should a hospital refuse or fail to act in its accordance.
State funding is a significant reason why many state hospitals are still in operation, and because of that, the use of those funds as leverage in the enforcement of this law is an important tool. Many organizations are fighting for the rights of rape victims, and it is high time that the state throws its considerable weight around in this fight.
Ultimately, it is taxpayer money that is going to fund these hospitals, and it is taxpayers - the victims of rapes - who will need treatment in the event of a rape. It is prudent and ethical that a woman be spared the trauma of a rape-begotten pregnancy, if she so desires, and if a hospital that she helps to fund would fail in its prudence or ethics, it must be subject to the full authority of the state - namely, the ceasing of the transfer of all tax money to the facility.
The first step for these hospitals is to define a policy, whether to immediately offer the contraceptive or to offer information. Either way, it must be a rapid response, as this medication's maximum effectiveness has a 72-hour window following the rape. Time is of the essence, and perhaps state action is needed to jump-start that process in hospitals that lag behind.
Hospitals that do not automatically offer the contraceptive pills to victims must still be required to give information on the best and fastest way of acquiring such treatment. There must not be any scenario in which a rape victim can go to a hospital for treatment and not be either offered emergency contraception or given an adequate chance to attain it for herself.
Rape is a terrible act with potentially terrible consequences. New York's hospitals must not be allowed to contribute to those consequences with ill-defined or non-existent policies toward rape victims. The state has a chance to do a great service for its citizens in passing this bill, and there is little reason for the state to falter in its obligations - particularly when the stakes are so high for the women involved.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
