Hospital emergency rooms are required to provide rape victims with access and information about emergency conception, including Catholic hospitals. But a report by the Department of Human Services fined 22 Wisconsin hospitals for failing to comply with the 2008 law.
On of those hospitals is SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison. According to the Wisconsin State Journal:
St. Mary’s was fined $7,500 in April 2015 for not obeying the three main parts of the law. From June to December 2014, the hospital failed to inform three sexual assault patients about emergency contraception or make it available to them, the state Department of Health Services said.
Sara Finger, executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health, told the Wisconsin Gazette, that the hospitals’ lack of compliance with the law shows why it’s important for the state to enforce it.
“Compliance is everything,” Finger said. “It’s scary how many women might not be getting the compassionate care they need.”
For more on these violations, visit Wisconsin State Journal.
