Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 658 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require hospitals that provide emergency care to sexual assault survivors to inform survivors of and provide access to emergency contraception.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, The Sex Abuse Treatment Center, Planned Parenthood of Hawaii, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, the Community Alliance on Prisons, Women and Children of Domestic Violence, the ACLU, and nine concerned citizens. Two individuals from the Roman Catholic Church in the State of Hawaii, the American Center for Law & Justice of Hawaii, Pro-Family Hawaii, and St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii opposed the bill.

Your Committee finds that more than 300,000 women are sexually assaulted in the United States each year. Of these, an estimated 32,000 become pregnant as a result of the assault.

Your Committee further finds that currently, emergency contraceptives are part of the treatment protocol for all sex assault victims in Hawaii. Identified sex assault survivors are taken to a hospital with medical personnel trained in this area. Your Committee further finds, however, that some victims choose not to identify themselves as having been sexually assaulted and seek treatment for assault symptoms.

Your Committee notes that use of emergency contraceptives in sexual assault cases is endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Hawaii Medical Association. Your Committee is sensitive, however, to other religious, social, and moral views on contraception. Therefore, after balancing the needs of victims with the religious beliefs of care providers, your Committee amended the bill by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 658, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 658, S.D. 1.