Gov. George Pataki (R) on Wednesday signed into law a measure (A 15/SB 202) that will require hospitals in the state to offer emergency contraception to rape survivors, the New York Times reports (Polgreen, New York Times, 10/2). EC can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 9/30). The law will require all hospitals in the state -- including religiously affiliated hospitals -- to offer EC to rape survivors. Previously, the New York State Department of Health did not require hospitals to dispense EC, and some hospitals chose to inform rape survivors of the option but refer them elsewhere to obtain the medication. The Assembly last year passed a bill requiring emergency rooms to supply EC and information about abortion to rape survivors, but the measure never made it to a vote in the state Senate (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 2/13). By signing the legislation, Pataki made New York the fourth state after California, New Mexico and Washington state to require hospitals to provide access to EC. Planned Parenthood Federation of America estimates that 25,000 women each year become pregnant as a result of sexual assault (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 9/30).

Dropped Opposition
The bill had faced opposition from abortion-rights opponents, including the New York State Catholic Conference, which said that EC amounts to abortion in some cases by preventing a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports (Rosenberg, Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, 10/2). In following with Catholic doctrine, Catholic hospitals are not permitted to dispense EC if the medical staff determines that fertilization has occurred. However, the state's Roman Catholic hierarchy dropped opposition to the bill after an exception was added allowing hospitals to withhold EC from women who are determined to be pregnant already (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 9/30). Dennis Poust, spokesperson for the state's Catholic Conference, said, "We believe the law was not necessary, but with the language agreed upon in the final version, we don't object to it" (Baker/Rau, Long Island Newsday, 10/2). According to the New York Daily News, the state Catholic Conference said that the Catholic Church's ban on artificial contraception has never applied to rape survivors (Mahoney, New York Daily News, 10/2). Assembly member Susan John (D), who sponsored the measure in the Assembly, called the law a "tremendous victory" for women in New York (AP/Albany Times Union, 10/2). Hospitals must begin distributing EC to rape survivors beginning on Jan. 31, 2004, according to the Daily News (New York Daily News, 10/2).