Rape victims lose in Connecticut legislature

A bill to require Catholic hospitals to offer Plan B contraceptives to rape victims has died in the Public Health Committee. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CT_XGR_MORNING_AFTER_PILL_CTOL-?SITE=CTNHR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Despite the fact that these hospitals receive millions of state dollars to cover Medicaid patients, the Connecticut Catholic Hospitals Council rejected even a compromise provision that would allow Catholic hospitals to use private nurses to administer the pills.

Archbishop Henry J. Mansell said that EC should not be given if a woman is ovulating or one of her eggs is fertilized.

The Public Health Committee took up the bill only 15 minutes before the deadline, and ran out of time to act on the compromise.

Now some legislators are looking into "requiring the state Department of Public Health to develop protocols for ambulance drivers and polic officers who pick up rape victims."

I guess rape victims need to have the presence of mind to get themselves to a non-Catholic hospital for care after a sexual assault.

If they are going to put doctrine and dogma ahead of public health, they should not be receiving any public funding. :grr:

..I don't understand how any intelligent woman could put up with the historical anti-woman stance that this church represents, but then again, look at the number of women that vote for the gop... :shrug:

I'm not trying to go against their beliefs about abortion but damnit, this is a woman who has been raped and they are forcing her to possibly carry that child or go through the trama of trying to get an abortion when all they need to do is just giver her a EC pill and not worry about it.

I'm sorry to those who are Catholic here for those sentiments because I know many of you agree with me when it comes to issues of choice. The hospital closest to me is the Catholic hospital and I've let it be known that I will not go there for any services. I'd rather drive the extra 5 miles and go to a hospital where I know that religion will not be used when factoring medicial decisions for me

I've told my husband that if I'm ever unconscious and need care, that I am not to go to the nearest hospital, which is attached to a Catholic university. (Although, on the bright side, it is now owned by an outside, secular company.) I just can't trust that my health will come before their dogma.

Lets persecute the victem just a little more:sarcasm:

"You should be grateful to have a sweet baby after this horrendous experience! Don't you see it is a blessing?"
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These hospitals should not receive state funding if they are insisting on imposing their misogynist and religious views on rape victims. These women and girls are just that, victims of a violent crime, and should be treated as such. They are not human incubators with no rights.

I am Catholic and would never have wanted to be taken to a Catholic hospital under those circumstances.

A lot of these hospitals are also getting millions of dollars in research grants from NIH. Until these places promise to provide health care that is not based on religious dogma, they shouldn't get a fucking dime.

Religion dictating that people who have been the victims of horrible crimes have to suffer even more...

This is just evil.

:grr:

Do you ever wonder what kind of man is so concerned about the internal functioning of women's ovaries. Like somehow, they're his to "manage." Hmm, wonder if we could "manage" his sperm a little bit. :evilgrin: :evilgrin:

"I guess rape victims need to have the presence of mind to get themselves to a non-Catholic hospital for care after a sexual assault."

Yeah, and in some places here in Tx this is very difficult. The Catholic Church runs the public hospital in Corpus Christi and several other major hospitals, and also dome in smaller towns 30+ miles away. A traumatized woman may not have the ability to to consider this or even articulate that she needs EC at an EC-friendly hospital.

I htink we have too many people making these decisions and they have no memory of what things were like before Griswold vs. Connecticut or pre-Roe vs. Wade. Many young women and their significant others will have to suffer for a generation or two until they get off their asses and start protecting their rights again.

It is ridiculous to think that a rape victim could even physically DO such a thing, especially if she has been beaten and suffers lifethreatening injuries. And you're right, many women don't even know about the existence of EC, so how can they ask for it?

By the way, the state's Victim Advocate, himself a deacon of the RC Church, said that rape victim advocates were promoting an "agenda" that was part of the anti-Catholic bigotry in our state, by pushing for this legislation. Even Gov. Rell was forced to reprimand him for that little outburst. She should have fired him!

Even the New Haven Register, not a liberal newspaper, came out in favor of the bill. And I think public opinion was strongly in favor also. It shows you the power of the Church, doesn't it?

Everyone needs to know what the emerging risks are. :thumbsup:

...somewhere in the house.

Because you never know when you or someone you love is going to need it AND you don't know what sort of fucked up asshole (like a hospital or fundie pharmacist) is going to stand in your way of getting EC when you need it the most.

someone you know is assaulted. I suspect plenty of pills would expire unused unless there is some sort of web-ring for it.

I bet at some point they'll find a way to ban even the mention of birth control to girls in high school, much less EC. I can't believe another generation might have to go through all of this again after skipping a generation because we got access.

the date you see on your bottle isn't the same date that the pharmacists have where the pills tend to sit on the shelf for much longer until they get used.

Expiration Dates are nothing more than a selling point to get you to buy more drugs. I have Tylenol 3 in my cabinet that is 5 years old that I've used in the past year and it was still effective as always

but real shelf life is usually alot longer. I'm willing to use meds up to about six months past shelf life date, but no longer. I'll be sure to recheck the thread. Thanks a bunch. I hope your info here helps someone.

This is just an awful decision, no question about it.

right? And you know she really wanted it, don't you? :sarcasm:

This is happening in Blue country, folks.

Even our GOP congresspeople support abortion rights.

But the power of the Catholic church, and I suspect, the large Catholic hospitals, is such that state legislators were afraid to confront them.

Sad, sad day. And scary implications for the rest of the country. If this can happen here, it can only be worse elsewhere.