In 2004 the NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Foundation surveyed hospitals around the state and found that only 31% of them gave Emergency Contraception (EC) to rape victims in their ER, and only 2 gave EC to women who had experienced contraceptive failure or had had unprotected sex.  in 2006 NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio embarked on the second phase of the research, an in-depth look at the emergency room policies towards the distribution of EC.  For this study all 167 hospitals received 2 mailed surveys and (if the mail surveys were not returned) 3 follow-up phone calls 84 of the hospitals responded to the survey (roughly 50%).  Here are some of the key findings:

• 78% of the hospital emergency rooms surveyed said that they routinely give EC to rape victims.
• 7% said they would deny EC to a rape victim
• only 17% of hospitals would give EC to a woman who had experienced contraceptive failure or had unprotected sex
• 56% of hospitals said that they would deny EC to women if they had not been raped.
• Only two hospitals said that they would direct a woman 18 or older to a pharmacy where she can now get access to EC without a prescription.
• Two hospitals gave the caller medically inaccurate information, referring the EC as the "abortion pill" or saying that the medication would be harmful to a fetus if the woman were already pregnant.

 

You can download the executive summary or whole study report.  The whole study file is large, and may not work on a dial-up connection.  If you cannot access the file on-line please contact us at 614-221-2594 to obtain a copy.