US lawmakers urge emergency contraception for rape

Under bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. House and Senate on Wednesday, hospitals that receive federal funds would have to advise rape victims of the availability of emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy.

“The idea that someone cannot prevent an unwanted pregnancy that’s the result of an assault is just inconceivable to me,” said Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine of New Jersey, referring to hospitals that do not routinely provide rape victims with access to emergency contraception, a two-pill regime that can reliably prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after unprotected intercourse.

Corzine said that of the roughly 300,000 women raped each year in the U.S., between 20,000 and 30,000 will get pregnant as a result of the assault.

“Not passing this would make fathers out of rapists,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York.

Backers of the legislation said they were motivated in part by guidelines for the treatment of rape victims issued by the U.S. Department of Justice last year that include no mention of emergency contraception.

“We believe it was not accidental, that it was ideological,” said Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New YorkY.

Catholics and other religious groups have argued that because emergency contraception can work to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting, it is tantamount to an abortion—a view not held by most of the medical community. Unlike the abortion pill RU486, emergency contraception will not interrupt an established pregnancy.

Nonetheless, Clinton said she hopes that religious hospitals will see rape treatment as a special case. “Even where there are deeply held religious beliefs, there are exceptions for rape and incest,” she said. “We would hope they would look at this as an exceptional situation.”

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