Emergency Contraception (EC)
How you can help:
Call your local legislator and demand action onHouse Bill 419 & Senate Bill 283. 
© 2012 Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio
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House Bill 419 & Senate Bill 283 / EC Talking Points
What House Bill 419 & Senate Bill 283 will do:
- Require that hospitals promptly offer EC to sexual assault victims and provide the medication if she accepts the offer.
- Require hospitals to provide medically and factually accurate, unbiased written and oral information on EC to sexual assault victims.
- Require hospitals to provide the sexual assault victim with an assessment of their risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases from the assault.
- Require that counseling be provided to the victim on possible treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. The hospital will also be required to offer treatments to the victim and provide the treatment if he or she consents.
Why we must pass House Bill 419 & Senate Bill 283:
- Victims of rape and incest deserve immediate access to safe, effective methods of pregnancy and disease prevention.
- Emergency Contraception (EC), also known as the morning after pill, is a concentrated dose of ordinary birth control which can prevent pregnancy after a contraceptive method fails, after unprotected sex or sexual assault. EC should be taken orally and is most effective when taken within the first 24 hours and is effective within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
- Approximately 14.3% (or 1 out of 7 adult women in Ohio) have been victims of one or more completed forcible rapes during their lifetime. Research suggests that only 1 in 6 rapes are reported to law enforcement, indicating that many more women could be impacted by sexual assault in their lifetimes.
A 2007 survey of emergency room policies towards the distribution of EC to women, by the NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Foundation, revealed that:
- Seven percent of hospitals reported that they would deny EC to anyone requesting it, even a rape victim.
- An additional 15% of hospitals reported that a rape victim’s ability to get access to emergency contraception depended on the doctor who was treating the woman.
- Only two hospitals identified that the medication was available over-the-counter for women 18 and over, and that patients could get access to the medication without seeing a doctor.
- Two hospitals also gave answers that were medically inaccurate, stating that EC was the same as the “abortion pill” or saying that the medication would harm a developing fetus if the woman were already pregnant.
A 2005 poll conducted for Planned Parenthood Federation of America showed that voters overwhelmingly (79 percent) favor access to EC for rape and incest victims.
