Abortion Groups: Bush Admin Should Suggest Rape Victims Get Plan B
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 30, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Abortion advocates are asking the Bush administration to release documents revealing why it doesn’t advise hospitals to provide women who have been raped with the morning after pill, which sometimes causes an abortion. Several pro-abortion groups joined together to file a freedom of information request on Tuesday.
The Justice Department sent the first ever national medical protocol to state health departments last November, and it did not include instructions to give raped women the Plan B drugs. Abortion advocates claim that means the Bush administration is not doing enough to protect women from sexual assault.
"It is time for the Department of Justice to be accountable for refusing to do everything it can to protect sexual assault survivors from unintended pregnancy," said Louise Melling of the ACLU, which led the coalition of pro-abortion groups.
The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see the internal documents related to the establishment of the protocol. The protocol is not mandatory but a suggestion for state and local health departments on how to respond to rape cases.
Abortion advocates have introduced legislation in various state legislatures to require hospitals receiving state funds to distribute the morning after pill to women who are victims of rape. Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York, Jon Corzine of New Jersey, and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine have filed a similar federal bill in Congress.
Other groups that joined the ACLU in filing the legal papers include NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the National Council of Jewish Women, and Christians for Justice Action.
Pro-life groups say health care personnel should not be forced to distribute the morning after pill to any patient.
"Health care providers … should be never be forced to participate in procedures or practices to which they are morally opposed," Elizabeth Graham of Texas Right to Life told LifeNews.com. She said forcing medical staff "to participate in abortion through prescribing a pill that could cause a chemical abortion is outrageous."
