Success - Governor Rell Signs Compassionate Care Bill Into Law! 5/16/07
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Hello All - On May 16,2007 Gov Rell signed the Compassionate Care for Victims of Sexual Assault Bill. We can celebrate our first success of this legislative session and take pride in the creation of good public policy. Thanks to your calls and emails, women who have been raped will now be offered emergency contraceptive services at medical facilities where they are being treated. Our special thanks to Reproductive Rights Specialist Birgitta Longnecker who spearheaded the League's successful advocacy in partnership with the CT Coalition for Choice. From courant.com -------------------- Rell Signs 'Plan B' Bill -------------------- The Associated Press May 16, 2007, 5:01 PM EDT Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed a bill today that would require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims. The state House approved it 113-36 two weeks ago over the objections of the state's Catholic bishops. The law would require all 30 hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, to make the drug, known as Plan B, available. The Senate passed it earlier in the session. The emergency contraception is a concentrated dose of the same drug found in many regular birth-control pills. Taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, a woman can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. If she already is pregnant, the pills have no effect, according to the drug's manufacturer. But church leaders say the pills could cause an abortion. Last year, Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell directed the four Catholic hospitals in the state not to prescribe the drug if a rape victim is ovulating or an egg has been fertilized. In an effort to appease the Catholic Church, the bill allows an independent, third-party health care provider, such as a rape crisis nurse, to distribute the drug. That clause satisfied the governor. Rell has said the third-party initiative satisfies her concerns for the well-being of the rape victim. Copyright 2007 Associated Press |
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