Which of these mechanisms is operative depends on when the pills are taken. If taken before ovulation, EC may delay or inhibit ovulation, thereby preventing conception. If taken after the LH surge which triggers ovulation, EC will not disrupt ovulation in that cycle, but can inhibit implantation of the developing embryo.[v]  In other words, it can abort a newly conceived human life.  Any claim that EC will NOT cause an abortion (or “will not interfere with a pregnancy”) is based on the deceptive definition that pregnancy begins at implantation and not conception.

What Are the Side Effects of EC?

• The information about side effects and long-term effects of EC are based on the side effects and long-term effects of the oral contraceptive pill when taken in a daily regimen of one pill per day for 21 days, NOT the much higher doses of 4-40 times the usual dosage over a 12-hour period.  Therefore, we really do not know what effect EC has on women.

• The side effects listed for EC, again, based on the lower, typical dose of birth control pills, not the high EC dosages, include:  nausea, vomiting, menstrual irregularities, breast tenderness, headache, abdominal pain/cramps, dizziness, cardiovascular disease, blood clots, strokes, ocular lesions (causing partial or complete loss of eye sight), unexplained vaginal bleeding, liver disease, ectopic pregnancy.[vi]

• Drug manufacturers specifically warn women against taking EC if they suspect or know they are pregnant.[vii]

Why Would SB 168 Create Bad Law?

• The bill is not necessary.  Catholic hospitals have established rape protocols based on Guidelines from the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, which include medical intervention to prevent conception of a child when appropriate.  (See Directive 36 below.)  Proper healthcare is already given to women in circumstances such as these; therefore, a statutory mandate is not only unnecessary, but also an intrusive state interference with the administration of medical care.

• The bill provides for no testing or safeguards to determine if the woman is already pregnant.

• This bill would force all hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, the attending physician, and the pharmacist to administer or prescribe drugs against their conscience that can abort human life, or cooperate in ensuring that the patient is administered or prescribed drugs that can abort human life through the mandated referral.

• By doing this, the bill is in direct contradiction to current South Dakota Codified Law 36-11-70 protecting the rights of pharmacists who conscientiously object to dispensing medication that will cause abortion, assisted suicide, or euthanasia, and SDCL 34-23A-11 to 34-23A-14, protecting the rights of counselors, social workers, physicians, nurses, and hospitals to refuse to advise, arrange, encourage, assist, or perform abortions. 

• The bill requires the administration of high doses of oral contraceptive pills if requested, even in cases where there is no possibility that the patient could become pregnant.  Often in such cases, the victim is extremely upset with the trauma of the assault.  The fear of the unknown may significantly cloud her ability to reason, and she may demand such contraception, even if against medical advise. 

• The mandate that the health care facility (or the physician at the place of referral) "shall provide" EC at the patient's request forces doctors to prescribe and pharmacists to dispense EC even if it would be contraindicative for that patient.  This would eliminate the individualized medical judgment necessary to administer good healthcare which could be detrimental, if not deadly, to the woman.  (See Contraindications, Plan B® Package Insert; Preven^TM Package Insert.)

• The bill proposes to codify into law a false definition of “Emergency Contraception” by stating that EC “can prevent pregnancy after sex.”  (It may, it may not, or it may cause an abortion as explained above.)

Compassionate Treatment of Victims of Sexual Assault

• Victims of sexual assault must be treated with compassion and understanding. Health care providers who treat sexual assault victims should provide medically accurate information, appropriate medical care, and offer spiritual and psychological support.  This is currently being done in Catholic hospitals in South Dakota.

• A woman who has been raped should be able to defend herself from a potential conception and receive treatments to suppress ovulation and incapacitate sperm. If conception has occurred, however, a Catholic hospital will not dispense drugs to interfere with implantation of a newly conceived human embryo.[viii]

• Fairly simple tests are available to determine whether ovulation has occurred. [ix]

• A woman, even if she requests it, should not be given drugs that are unnecessary (i.e., she cannot become pregnant under the circumstances) or contraindicative (see Plan B® Package Insert; Preven^TM Package Insert).

          In response to the introduction of a similar bill in Illinois, Francis Cardinal George of Chicago got to the heart of the matter in a letter to the Illinois senate:

The controversy over this bill is not about offering contraceptive interventions after a rape. Such intervention is morally acceptable if ovulation has not occurred. Nor is this a question about treating victimized women with dignity, compassion and respect, something that Catholic medical care tries to ensure. This is, rather, a question of the State . . . definitively coming down on one side of a hotly debated national issue by requiring everyone in health care to act as though life does not begin at conception. . . . Catholic institutions cannot agree to facilitate abortions and remain Catholic. To do so would be to undermine the very purpose of Catholic health care, which is organized around a core belief in the dignity of each and every human life."  [This legislation is an] extreme step in systematically dismantling Catholic health care’s ability to be guided by a profound respect for the dignity and sanctity of all human beings. Our hospitals cannot and will not comply with this law. [xi.]

Conclusion

          Hospitals can and do offer rape victims treatments that are truly contraceptive and address their needs with compassion and respect.  The law should not require the administration of so-called "emergency contraception" simply because a patient requests it.