After six years of debate and several incidents of unnecessary stalling in the state Senate, the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill has passed in the Wisconsin state Senate.
The passage of the bill, AB 377, will finally mandate that all hospitals in Wisconsin provide rape victims with access to emergency contraceptives. The bill passed with a 25-6 vote and awaits a signature by Gov. Jim Doyle - an avid supporter of the bill. As a bill that demands nothing more than to offer assistance to victims of a malicious crime, it's about time that it passed.
This comes after months of waiting and an attempted amendment from the Republican-controlled Assembly Judiciary and Ethics Committee that supporters claimed gutted"" the bill. Fortunately, these amendments were defeated in December 2007 and the original bill passed.
Many hospitals already provided this service, but no victim of a crime as heinous as rape deserves to be rejected access to treatment or constantly reminded of sexual assault from an unwanted pregnancy. The trauma one is likely to experience from such an occurrence is troubling enough.
Though the instances in which this bill was stalled proved both nonsensical and troubling, lawmakers finally showed there are still instances where partisan politics do not take precedence over the well- being of Wisconsin citizens and general common sense. It is very pleasing to see choice still matters in Wisconsin.
