States of DENIAL - Of women's Rights!

[gatlingforme]

States of Denial

By Abby Christopher, AlterNet. Posted August 18, 2004.
(snip)

A rape, a visit to the ER, a request for emergency contraception, a refusal on religious grounds. Welcome to the new front in the battle for reproductive rights, where state law says it's okay to deny prescriptions. Story Tools

(snip)

Heather Minton couldn't bring herself to tell anyone that she had just been brutally pinned down and raped at a Friday night party at the University of California, Riverside last November. But she did insist that a friend get her out of the party fast and take her to the emergency room. She needed emergency contraception (EC) before it was too late and the clinic on campus wouldn't be able to help her until Monday.

Minton says the ER nurse at Riverside Community Hospital told Minton's friend that she wouldn't treat Minton if she hadn't been raped, and suggested they try another ER a half-hour's freeway drive away. "When we got to the emergency room, I was hysterical," says Minton. "No one knew what had happened to me, just that I had had sex and I wanted EC. But the nurse sent us to another hospital. It was after 2 AM, and we didn't know where we were going or whether they'd refuse to treat me too."


Please see more at http://www.alternet.org/rights/19584/

_____

This is pathetic, what next? women need Daddys permission. Also isn't this a tad scary to think a pharmacist can deny prescriptions based on "their" religious beliefs?

[demnan]

1. This is the Republican's fault

as they get more approving these idiots get bolder about withholding treatment for contraception.

I say we put Theresa Heinz Kerry in charge of this stuff in the future.

[Bettie]

2. Last I heard it wasn't up to health care workers

To decide who has been raped and who hasn't.

These people are horrible. They seem to enjoy inflicting suffering on people.

No nurse or doctor I know would never behave this way, they have more respect for people.

[gatlingforme]

3. I agree with both posts. The Bush$Co have stacked his cabinet

with a bunch of RW Zealots who could give a rats ass about a woman's health and rights. I am looking forward to Bushes defeat with much anticipation.

[knitter4democracy]

4. Make sure you know what your insurance does too

When I taught in Catholic schools, my insurance wouldn't pay for any procedure that rendered me infertile, even to save my life, let alone any birth control method of any kind. When I read that, I asked everyone else (at a girls' school, no less) if they knew that was in our plans, and no one did. No one had read that carefully, I guess.

Apparently, in that Diocese, the women teachers are only as good as their wombs. Grr! I have endometriosis, and the surgeries I can get to help with my disease have on their side effect lists possible infertility (in case they nick the wrong blood vessel and have to take out my ovaries or uterus in the process of making sure I don't die on the table), and that made me think twice about getting surgery. There was no way on a Catholic school teacher salary I could afford that surgery and the follow-up if anything went wrong. Oh, they'd pay for it if the surgeon just would've let me bleed to death and die but not if I lived without my uterus or ovaries.

[gatlingforme]

10. WOW, that is scary. Thanks for pointing that out. I hope your

endometriosis is not too bad now.

[knitter4democracy]

13. Well,

it could be better. I'm treating it through diet, yoga, and a lot of rest when I need it (not easy with two little ones).

Yeah, when I read that, I got so mad! I was at a girls' school with maybe 5 men in the whole place, but we were obviously only worth our fertility to the higher-ups.

Yes, I'm pro-life personally, but shoving your religious beliefs onto my doctors is going too far. It's my decision and my doctor's decision in a critical moment, not the insurance company's.

[Mel]

5. Senator Frist, HCA

and why I'm not surprised to read that this is a 'Corporation' that allows it's employees to deny a woman health care!

<snip>Riverside Community Hospital did not respond to repeated requests for comment. HCA, the corporation that owns the hospital, says it does not dictate clinical policy to its facilities, and physicians can use their own discretion.</snip>

http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/healthcare/nw/nw004174.php3
Consumer group files complaint against Frist because of HCA ties
WASHINGTON -- A California-based consumer group asked a Senate panel Tuesday to bar Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist from participating in the current debate over medical malpractice reform because of his ties to the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain.

The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights said HCA, Inc., the Nashville-based hospital chain founded by Frist's father and older brother, and its malpractice insurance subsidiary would benefit financially from Frist-backed legislation to limit liability to $250,000 for trauma centers, gynecologists and obstetricians.

As a result, the Republican leader from Tennessee also would gain, according to the nonprofit education and advocacy organization. It noted that Frist has previously disclosed transferring from $ 10.1 million to $ 30.3 million in HCA stock owned by him, his wife and children into blind trusts.</snip>

[gatlingforme]

12. Thanks for the link, Frist is right there with Cheney ..

He is an insidious piece of you know what. one who rides on the coat tails of Bush.

[Shallah Kali]

6. I had read about these also in prevention magazine of all places

Access Denied http://www.prevention.com/cda/feature2002/0,,s1-7342,00.html

This is so horrible! They want us to do back to the dark ages and let a bunch of strangers decide what women can do with their own bodies. I wonder what they will do next, refuse to treat AIDs patients because they deserve to die? Refuse unmarried pregnant women treatment? I know what they won't be doing - denying viagra to unless they are married and only to conceive a child!

[hinachan]

9. Re: I had read about these also in prevention magazine of all places

"I know what they won't be doing - denying viagra to unless they are married and only to conceive a child!"

You know, that is so true, it makes me want to vomit. :(

[skippysmom]

7. Sigh

God, I hate these people. I am so sick of people who think they can tell us women how to control our bodies.

[sybylla]

8. An area reproductive health clinic is countering this attitude

by offering emergency contraception to women before they need it. You can go to them, get it, and keep it at home in your medicine cabinet. They'll even mail it to you if you're willing to call and speak with a nurse. They set up this program in response to the pukes trying to push a conscience clause through our state houses. It's a growing program and the director is a great advocate for women in the state.

[gatlingforme]

11. That is great, I can't tell you how this crap makes my blood boil

I am very happy that someone is countering such idiocy.

[Mandate My Ass]

14. This is happening with alarming frequency

The medical community shouldn't be second guessing rape claims. They do more harm than good by turning women away and treating them as suspects instead of patients. The benefit weighing the possibility that it wasn't rape should come into play only in the courts. Then there's the Hippocratic Oath but I don't even want to go there.

I suppose soon incidents like these won't be "news" anymore because they have become too commonplace. Ack, it makes me bleed from the ears just to think about it. :-(

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

16. EC is basically

birth control pills at a higher dose. I got some of it just yesterday. The doctor ran out of the standard pill(s) that are given for EC, so she gave me 8 regular combination birth control pills (0.3mg norgestrel & 0.03mg ethinyl estradiol pill called lo/ovral). She said to take 4 then and 4 more 12 hours later. It makes you feel really sick, like you actually are pregnant (but worse) for about a day.

If you already have access to combination birth control pills, but can't get EC for some reason, you can use the combination birth control pills as EC, if you take them in the right dosing. Please talk to your doctor about this. Remember this only works within 72 hours of having unprotected sex. The longer you wait, the more likely it is you may become pregnant.

[oldcoot]

15. Another reason to vote for Kerry and the Democrats

If we are to have any chance of slowing this trend down, we need to put more Democrats in power.