( - promoted by spazeboy)
Tune in to CT-N now, or watch online. I just tuned in to see the end of Senator Harris' comments in favor of the bill. Senator Kissel, ranking member, seems to be speaking against it.
I'll live-blog in the comments for those of you who can't watch for as long as I can.
UPDATE: Sen. Kissel does in fact seem to be speaking in favor of the compromise amendment, which allows Catholic hospitals to contract with a private provider who would administer the rape exam and also offer medically accurate information about Plan B and the full dose of Plan B for those who want it.
UPDATE 2: The compromise amendment passed by voice vote of the full Senate. The bill has now been sent to the Public Health committee. Here are the key parts of the compromise:
b) The standard of care for each licensed health care facility that provides emergency treatment to a victim of sexual assault shall include promptly:
(1) Providing each victim of sexual assault with medically and factually accurate and objective information relating to emergency contraception;
(2) Informing such victim of sexual assault of the availability of emergency contraception, its use and efficacy; and
(3) Providing emergency contraception to such victim of sexual assault at the facility upon the request of such victim, except that a licensed health care facility shall not be required to provide emergency contraception to a victim of sexual assault who has been determined to be pregnant through the administration of a pregnancy test approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
(c) In order to comply with the standard of care requirements prescribed in subsection (b) of this section, a licensed health care facility may contract with one or more independent providers to: (1) Ensure compliance at the facility with the standard of care requirements prescribed in said subsection (b), and (2) conduct at the facility a forensic exam of the sexual assault victim in accordance with the state of Connecticut Technical Guidelines for Health Care Response to Victims of Sexual Assault, published by the Commission on the Standardization of the Collection of Evidence in Sexual Assault Investigations pursuant to section 19a-112a of the general statutes.
(d) No licensed health care facility that provides emergency treatment to a victim of sexual assault shall determine such facility's protocol for complying with the standard of care requirements prescribed in subsection (b) of this section on any basis other than a pregnancy test approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
The compromise allows Catholic hospitals to exempt their own employees from providing Plan B by contracting with an indpendent provider. The compromise allows hospitals to administer a pregnancy test before providing the medication, but does not allow for the current protocol by Catholic hospitals - which involves administration of a highly unreliable urine test for ovulation - to be used. The compromise is great news for everyone.
It's worth noting, however, that Senator DeLuca once again claimed that no one had been harmed by the current lack of a standard of care for all rape victims throughout the state. After sitting through the entire human services committee hearing a few weeks ago, this infuriates me because DeLuca himself said at the hearing that he hadn't listened to any of the testimony thus far, nor did he stay to listen to the rest of the testimony that day which did clearly include evidence of women who were not offered the full dose of Plan B at many hospitals around Connecticut, religious and secular alike. DeLuca clearly hasn't even bothered to read the testimony since then. He should seriously consider keeping his trap shut on bills if he's not even going to bother to read or listen to testimony. |
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