This Act shall be called the “Emergency Contraception for Sexual Assault Victims Act.”

1. Each year, approximately 300,000 women are raped in the United States, and in [most recent year], [number] women were raped in [state].

2. Each year, approximately 25,000 women become pregnant as a result of rape and approximately 50 percent of these pregnancies end in abortion.

3. An estimated 22,000 of these pregnancies—88 percent—could be prevented if sexual assault victims had timely access to emergency contraception.

4. Approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration, emergency contraception prevents pregnancy after sexual intercourse.

5. Emergency contraception cannot and does not cause abortion.

6. While standards of emergency care established by the American Medical Association require that sexual assault victims be counseled about their risk of pregnancy and offered emergency contraception, most hospitals fail to provide emergency contraception to rape victims.

After section XXX, the following new section XXX shall be inserted:

(A) DEFINITIONS—in this section:

1. “Emergency contraception” means any drug or device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that prevents pregnancy after sexual intercourse.

2. “Emergency care to sexual assault victims” means medical examinations, procedures, and services provided by a healthcare facility to a sexual assault victim following an alleged rape.

3. “Healthcare facility” means a hospital, emergency care facility, health clinic, or other healthcare center.

4. “Rape” means [as defined by state statute].

5. “Sexual assault victim” means a female who alleges or is alleged to have been raped.

(B) EMERGENCY CARE TO SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMS—It shall be the standard of care for healthcare facilities that provide emergency care to sexual assault victims to:

1. Provide each sexual assault victim with medically and factually accurate and unbiased written and oral information about emergency contraception.

2. Verbally inform each sexual assault victim of her option to be provided emergency contraception at the healthcare facility.

3. Provide emergency contraception immediately at the healthcare facility to each sexual assault victim who requests it. If the emergency contraception is in the form of pills, the provision must include the initial dose, which the sexual assault victim can take at the hospital, as well as any follow-up doses for the sexual assault victim to self-administer later.

(C) TRAINING—Every healthcare facility shall ensure that each person who provides care to sexual assault victims has medically and factually accurate and unbiased information about emergency contraception.

(D) PATIENT INFORMATION MATERIALS—The [Department of Health] shall develop and produce informational materials about emergency contraception for distribution in all emergency health facilities in the state. The informational materials must, in a medically and factually accurate and unbiased manner, describe the use, safety, efficacy and availability of emergency contraception, and the fact that it does not cause abortion.

(E) ENFORCEMENT—In addition to any remedies at common law, the [Department of Health] shall respond to complaints and shall periodically determine whether healthcare facilities are complying with this section. The [Department of Health] may use all investigative tools available to verify compliance with this section. If the [Department of Health] determines that a healthcare facility is not in compliance, the Department shall:

If any provision, word, phrase or clause of this Act, or the application thereof, to any person, entity or circumstance should be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the remaining provisions, words, phrases or clauses of this Act which can be given effect without the invalid provision, word, phrase, clause or application, and to this end, the provisions, words, phrases or clauses of this Act are declared severable.

This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2004.