Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2223 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require hospitals to provide information on emergency contraception to sexual assault victims, and to provide emergency contraception when requested by the victim.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, the American College of Obstetrician and Gynecologists, the Community Alliance of Prisons, Hawaii Coalition Against Sexual Assault, The Sex Abuse Treatment Center, Healthy Mothers, Health Babies Coalition of Hawaii, Planned Parenthood of Hawaii, The First Unitarian Church, Sestak Rehabilitation Services, American Friends Service Committee, the Women's Coalition, and five individuals.

Testimony voicing conditional support of this measure, provided an exemption for hospitals associated with a religious diocese to 'opt out' is included, was received from the Department of Health and the St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii.

Testimony in opposition to this measure was received from the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii, Hawaii Right to Life, Pro-Family Hawaii, American Center for Law & Justice, and eight individuals.

Your Committee finds that victims of sexual assault should have the right to access therapeutic and medical care following this horrific act of violence, as well as the right to determine their own course of action after an event that stripped them of their control. At the very least, all hospitals should provide immediate and appropriate comprehensive care to all victims of sexual assault, which your Committee believes includes medically accurate information about the potential of pregnancy as a result of the rape and that these victims should have access to emergency contraception (EC) to prevent pregnancy. Offering EC is a time-sensitive issue and needs to be administered within 72 hours of a sexual attack to be effective. This window of opportunity is greatly reduced if the victim is forced to seek help elsewhere.

Your Committee finds that no healthcare provider has the right to choose the patient's course of treatment, or withhold information that would allow the patient to make an informed decision about their own body. Suggestions to include an exemption for hospitals affiliated with a religious diocese were raised, but your Committee finds that exemption unjustifiable as over two hundred Catholic emergency rooms nationwide routinely provide EC to sexual assault survivors.

Your Committee has made technical, non-substantive amendments to the bill.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2223, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2223, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.