LOS ANGELES, May 6 (UPI) -- A recent survey suggests less than one-third of U.S. hospitals routinely offer emergency contraception pills to rape victims, researchers said Monday.
The survey, conducted among 125 Pennsylvania hospitals, revealed about half the hospitals leave the decision to individual emergency room doctors as to whether the safe and effective pills should be given to women who have been sexually assaulted.
"About 10 percent of hospitals don't offer emergency contraception at all," said Dr. Ashlesha Patel, a fellow in women's health and family planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago during the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Although Patel only surveyed Pennsylvania hospitals, Patel said the results would most likely be similar in other states.
Overall, Patel found 32 percent of the hospitals surveyed routinely offer emergency contraception. In another 50 percent the decision was doctor dependent. In 9 percent the decision varied and in the remaining 9 percent the treatment was not offered.
About 10 percent of hospitals in Pennsylvania are operated by Catholic religious societies and Patel's survey included 16 Catholic hospitals. In those institutions, emergency contraception was routinely offered only 6 percent of the time. Sixty-nine percent of the time the decision was doctor-dependent and 19 percent of the time emergency contraception was not offered in these settings, she said.
"I find the results of this survey distressing, but not surprising," said Wayne Shields, president of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. "Emergency contraception remains a difficult case for raising awareness among doctors. We believe that 100 percent of emergency departments should offer emergency contraception to rape victims. Emergency contraception is compassionate to use and it is incredibly safe."
Patel said the survey did not explore the reasons behind the decisions to routinely offer the treatment or not offer it.
"We do not know from this survey if hospitals have policies requiring doctors to offer emergency contraception or to not require it. We will be looking at that in future studies."
Patel also said that when the hospital places the burden for prescribing emergency contraception on individual doctors, the survey did not determine how many staff physicians routinely offered the medication.
