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Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin News Wire
Monday, June 4, 2007 Edition

In this Issue:

·       Rape Survivors Pledge Continued Support for Compassionate Care

·       Assembly Leadership Ignores Need Demonstrated in Recent Hospital Study

·       Wisconsin Lags in Birth Control Access


Rape Survivors Pledge Continued Support for Compassionate Care
She’s been speaking out in support of the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill since 2005, and now that the state Assembly has moved to kill the bill by sending it to a committee chaired by an anti-birth control legislator, Linda, a rape survivor, is outraged.

 

“Sending this important bill to the Assembly Judiciary and Ethics Committee, where it’s likely to languish without a public hearing, is a slap in the face to women like me who have been advocating on behalf of compassionate care,” said Linda. “Are they trying to tell us that Committee Chair Mark Gundrum, who opposes women’s access to contraception, is a better judge of what rape victims need in our state than actual survivors?”

 

The Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill (SB 129 and AB 377) would ensure that rape victims learn about emergency contraception, or EC, in every Wisconsin hospital emergency room and receive the medication upon request to prevent pregnancy following an assault. The state Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill on a bipartisan vote of 27 to 6 earlier this month.

 

Pro-Life Wisconsin (PLW) is the only group lobbying in opposition to Compassionate Care for Rape Victims. PLW opposes all forms of birth control. Representative Gundrum has been endorsed by the group because of his opposition to all forms of birth control, and he voted last year to ban the availability of all hormonal contraceptives on UW college campuses.

 

“Planned Parenthood will join medical organizations, women’s advocates and coalition partners throughout the state to push this bill forward in the Legislature,” said Lisa Boyce, vice president of Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin. “You can help, by calling your state representative and demanding a public hearing on the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill, Assembly Bill 377. Passing compassionate care is the least we can do for victims of rape.”

Linda hopes Wisconsin’s elected officials listen.

 

“I wasn’t offered emergency contraception after my assault, and I don’t want to see that happen to any other woman in Wisconsin. We have to pass this bill. It’s the least we can do to protect our mothers, sisters and daughters,” said Linda.

Assembly Leadership Ignores Need for Senate Bill 129/Assembly Bill 377 Demonstrated in Recent Survey of WI Hospitals
There is a clear need for the Assembly to pass the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill in Wisconsin. A 2006 study conducted by the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims (CCRV) Coalition shows how little access rape victims have to the humane, comprehensive, compassionate care they need:

 

  • Only 33 percent of the hospitals surveyed reported that they dispensed EC unconditionally to rape victims. An additional 23 percent reported that they sometimes dispensed EC, at the discretion of the health care provider.

 

  • A Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) has an advanced degree and clinical experience in examining rape victims. These nurses can collect evidence from victims in the hospital and are indispensable sources of testimony when rape cases go to trial. However, just 30 percent of the hospitals surveyed participate in the SANE program. 

 

  • Hospitals with a SANE program were more likely to have a standard policy to provide information on EC (98 percent). They were also more likely to have a standard policy to dispense EC compared to those without a SANE program.

 

Approximately 25,000 women in the US become pregnant each year as a result of rape. An estimated 22,000 of these unintended pregnancies—or 88 percent—could be prevented if rape victims had timely access to emergency contraception (EC).

 

To view the study in its entirety, visit the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims page at www.supportwomenshealth.org.

 

Download a map of EC in the ER availability in Wisconsin (pdf file).

 

Watch Rape Survivors' CCRV Testimony (media file).



Wisconsin Lags in Birth Control Access
Research also shows that Wisconsin is falling behind in facilitating affordable access to birth control for all women in need. The Guttmacher Institute’s assessment of Wisconsin’s ability to meet the existing need for subsidized contraceptive services and supplies underscores the need for increased legislative effort around enhancing health care access and less time playing politics that erect barriers to quality, affordable health care.

 

The Guttmacher Institute assessed states on three indicators:

 

  • service availability—how well the states meet existing need for subsidized contraceptive services and supplies;
  • laws and policies—whether their laws and policies are likely to facilitate access to contraceptive services and information; and
  • public funding—the extent to which they devote their own revenues, and leverage potential federal dollars, to support the delivery of publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies.

Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Wisconsin ranked:

 

•        36th in service availability;

•        14th in laws and policies;

•        15th in public funding; and

•        23rd overall.

 

The Guttmacher study clearly demonstrates Wisconsin has a long way to go toward enhancing women’s access to contraceptive services: 

 

  • In Wisconsin, 640,420 women are in need of contraceptive services and supplies. Of these, 300,510 women need publicly supported contraceptive services because they have incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty level (205,190) or are sexually active teenagers (95,320).
  • Family planning clinics in Wisconsin serve only 31 percent of all women in need of publicly supported contraceptive services (93,010) and 30 percent of teenagers in need through 127 publicly funded family planning clinics.
  • Publicly funded family planning clinics in Wisconsin help women prevent 21,700 unintended pregnancies each year.
  • Every public dollar spent on family planning services saves the federal and state governments three dollars in Medicaid costs for prenatal and newborn care.

 

View the Wisconsin report.

 

Listen to the PPAWI News Wire podcast. 


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