"States of Denial" from AlterNet

A rape, a visit to the ER, a request for emergency contraception, a refusal on religious grounds. Welcome to the new front in the battle for reproductive rights, where state law says it's okay to deny prescriptions.


Heather Minton couldn't bring herself to tell anyone that she had just been brutally pinned down and raped at a Friday night party at the University of California, Riverside last November. But she did insist that a friend get her out of the party fast and take her to the emergency room. She needed emergency contraception (EC) before it was too late and the clinic on campus wouldn't be able to help her until Monday.

Minton says the ER nurse at Riverside Community Hospital told Minton's friend that she wouldn't treat Minton if she hadn't been raped, and suggested they try another ER a half-hour's freeway drive away. "When we got to the emergency room, I was hysterical," says Minton. "No one knew what had happened to me, just that I had had sex and I wanted EC. But the nurse sent us to another hospital. It was after 2 AM, and we didn't know where we were going or whether they'd refuse to treat me too."

Minton is not the only woman experiencing nightmarish problems getting access to emergency contraception, a combination of drugs that can prevent pregnancy if taken soon after sex. New state laws are giving hospitals, nurses, doctors and pharmacists the right to refuse to offer emergency contraception.


http://www.alternet.org/rights/19584/

/sarcasm


This is disgusting. If you refuse to do a job because of YOUR religious beliefs, your ass should be fired. I hope the hospital gets sued over that.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE??? Stay out of my life and do your FUCKING JOB

:mad: