Mass. Changes Hospital Contraception Rules - This is good!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051208/ap_on_he_me/emergency_contraception

BOSTON - Gov. Mitt Romney abandoned plans Thursday to exempt Roman Catholic and other private hospitals from a new law requiring them to dispense emergency contraception to rape victims.

Romney had initially backed regulations proposed earlier this week by his public health commissioner, Paul Cote Jr., who said the new law conflicted with an older law barring the state from forcing private hospitals to dispense contraceptive devices or information.

The Republican governor, who is considering a run for president in 2008, said at a news conference Thursday morning that he asked his legal advisers to review the matter after members of both parties criticized the regulations. He said the lawyers determined that the new law superseded the old law and that all hospitals should be required to offer the so-called "morning after pill."

"On that basis I have instructed the Department of Public Health to follow the conclusion of my own legal counsel and to adopt that sounder view," Romney said.

"I think it's, in my personal view, it's the right thing for hospitals to provide information and access to emergency contraception to anyone who is a victim of rape," he added.

***more at the link***

one staff member,refuse to dispense emergency contraception.

The closest hospital to me is a Catholic hospital.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/04/13/lawmakers_hear_testimony_on_emergency_contraception/

Lawmakers hear testimony on emergency contraception
By Theo Emery, Associated Press Writer | April 13, 2005

BOSTON -- When the 12-year-old rape victim and her mother arrived at the hospital, doctors began caring for the traumatized girl. But they didn't mention or offer emergency contraception that could have prevented the girl from becoming pregnant.

Three months later, the girl and her mother were horrified to learn the girl was pregnant -- a story that occurs too often in Massachusetts, according to Dr. Karen Lifford, who recounted the story to lawmakers hearing testimony Wednesday on bills that would increase access to the so-called "morning-after" contraception.

"It's not an uncommon story," Lifford, medical director of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said of the girl outside the hearing room. "This is a specific example of a scenario that we see repeated in different forms on a weekly basis."

more at the link