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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Ann
Collis |
State Rep. Daylin Leach |
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Leach continues fight for compassionate care of rape victims
Committee sends his bill to full House
HARRISBURG, June 6 – Pennsylvania victims of sexual assault would receive the resources and empowerment they need to reclaim their lives under new and enhanced emergency care requirements that state Rep. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, is advocating. Leach’s bill (H.B. 288) was voted out of the Health and Human Services Committee today and will go before the full House of Representatives for consideration.
Leach’s bill would implement a statewide protocol for the standardized care of rape victims. The legislation would ensure that rape victims who visit emergency rooms are provided with comprehensive care, offered consultation with a rape crisis counselor and provided accurate, easy-to-understand educational materials.
Currently, some Pennsylvania hospitals do not provide rape victims with emergency contraception.
“To me it is outrageous that a health-care provider would neglect to tell a woman who is sexually assaulted how to prevent a possible pregnancy due to that assault,” Leach said. “This legislation would require a standard of care that is uniform throughout the state so the traumatic event a rape victim endures would not include guessing about treatment resources available to them in various hospitals. Time is of the essence for rape victims since emergency contraception loses 50 percent of its effectiveness if not taken within 12 hours.”
More than 50 percent of Pennsylvania hospitals do not currently provide emergency contraception. Each year in the United States, 25,000 women become pregnant as a result of rape, and it is estimated that 22,000 of those pregnancies could have been prevented. Involuntary pregnancy is considered a primary reason why girls and women get abortions in the United States.
Leach said, “By denying the right for a woman to protect herself from a
pregnancy, you are ultimately forcing her to make the decision of whether or
not to have an abortion.”
Emergency contraception differs from RU-486, a controversial “abortion pill,” because it does not terminate an already conceived fetus. Emergency contraception is only effective in preventing an unwanted pregnancy during a brief window of opportunity, usually around 72 hours. Therefore, it is essential that women who have been sexually assaulted receive accurate information and comprehensive access to medical care.
Even though emergency contraception can now be purchased without a prescription by people 18 or older, it still has to be obtained at the pharmacy counter -- and women 17 or younger need a prescription.
“Victims of sexual assault should not have to rely on pharmacies for emergency contraception because the pharmacy might not be open when it’s needed, they might not carry it, or a pharmacist might refuse to give it to you,” Leach said.
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