Report Title:

Sexual Assault Survivors; Contraceptives

 

Description:

Requires hospitals to provide information about emergency contraceptives to sexual assault survivors and emergency contraceptives when requested.

 

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

727

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to emergency care for sexual assault survivors.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that one out of every five women in the United States has been sexually assaulted. Each year, over three hundred thousand women are sexually assaulted in the United States. Somewhere in America, a woman is sexually assaulted--and reports the incident to law enforcement officials--every six minutes. In 1999, there were two hundred thirty-five forcible rapes reported in Hawaii. After a woman is sexually assaulted, she may face the additional trauma of an unwanted pregnancy by the rapist. Each year, over thirty-two thousand women become pregnant as a result of sexual assault and approximately fifty per cent of these pregnancies end in abortion.

Approved for use by the United States Food and Drug Administration, emergency contraception prevents pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse. Emergency contraception cannot and does not cause abortion. Emergency contraceptive pills are the most commonly used method of emergency contraception and are ordinary birth control pills. Emergency contraceptive pills reduce the risk of pregnancy following unprotected sexual intercourse between seventy-five and eighty-nine per cent. Delaying the first dose of emergency contraceptive pills twelve hours increases the odds of pregnancy by almost fifty per cent.

Standards of emergency care established by the American Medical Association require that female victims of sexual assault be counseled about their risk of pregnancy and offered emergency contraception. One statewide study found that nearly one in three hospitals fail to offer emergency contraception to sexual assault victims. An additional twenty-three per cent have no clear policy on the issue.

Most women of reproductive age do not know enough about emergency contraception to ask for it--only eleven per cent have heard of it, are aware of its availability, and know that treatment must be initiated within seventy-two hours after sexual intercourse.

SECTION 2. Chapter 321, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new part to be appropriately designed and to read as follows:

"PART . EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTIVES

FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS

§321-A Definitions. In this part, unless a different meaning is plainly required:

"Emergency care to sexual assault victim" means medical examination, procedures, and services provided by a hospital to a victim of sexual assault after an alleged sexual assault.

"Emergency contraception" means any drug or device approved by the United Stated Food and Drug Administration that prevents pregnancy after sexual intercourse.

"Sexual assault" means sexual penetration as defined in section 707-731(1)(a), (b), and (c), 707-732(1)(a), or 707-733(1)(a).

"Sexual assault survivor" means a female who alleges or is alleged to have been sexually assaulted and who presents as a patient.

§321-B Emergency care for sexual assault survivors. Hospitals that provide emergency care to sexual assault survivors shall:

(1) Provide each sexual assault survivor with medically and factually accurate and unbiased written and oral information about emergency contraception;

(2) Orally inform each sexual assault survivor of her option to receive emergency contraception at the hospital; and

(3) Provide emergency contraception immediately at the hospital to each sexual assault survivor who requests it. The provision of emergency contraception shall include the initial dose, which the sexual assault survivor can take at the hospital, as well as the follow up dose to be self-administered by the sexual assault survivor twelve hours later.

§321-C Training. Hospitals that provide emergency care to sexual assault survivors shall ensure that each person who provides care to sexual assault survivors is provided with medically and factually accurate and unbiased information about emergency contraception.

§321-D Enforcement. In addition to any remedies at common law, the department shall respond to complaints and shall periodically determine whether hospitals are complying with this part. The department may use all investigative tools available to verify compliance with this part. If the department determines after a hearing conducted under chapter 91, that a hospital is not in compliance, the department shall:

(1) Impose an administrative fine of $5,000 per sexual assault survivor who is denied medically and factually accurate and unbiased information about emergency contraception or who is not offered or provided emergency contraception; and

(2) After two violations, suspend or revoke the certificate of authority or deny the hospital's application for certificate of authority."

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

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