Kauai legislators spoke Thursday evening about health and social services and to answer questions about their legislative action this year, but most questions were targeted to the emergency contraception issue. Representatives Ezra Kanoho (D-West Kauai), Bertha Kawakami (D-South Kauai) and
Kauai legislators spoke Thursday evening about health and social services and to answer questions about their legislative action this year, but most questions were targeted to the emergency contraception issue.
Representatives Ezra Kanoho (D-West Kauai), Bertha Kawakami (D-South Kauai) and Mina Morita (D-North Kauai), and Senator Gary Hooser (D-Kauai and Niihau), spoke at the Kauai Rural Health Association’s legislative forum held at the Kauai Community College Dining Hall.
Two bills were passed by the Legislature this year dealing with emergency contraception.
The bills may be either signed into law, or vetoed, by Governor Linda Lingle, who is facing a June 23 deadline. All four Kauai legislators voted in support of both bills. If Lingle does not act, the bills automatically become law June 24. A two-thirds majority vote is needed to override a veto.
The two bills are:
1.) Senate Bill 658, which would require emergency rooms to inform survivors of sexual assault of, and provide access to, emergency contraception;
2.) House Bill 123, which would allow pharmacists to dispense over-the-counter emergency contraception without prescriptions, in accordance with approved procedures and protocols developed by a pharmacist and physician.
Emergency contraception, also known as EC, or the “morning-after pill,” is birth control taken in specific dosages within 72 hours after sexual intercourse. To prevent pregnancy, it’s the 72-hour limit that forces it to be an “emergency.” EC is about 88 percent effective. EC works by inhibiting ovulation, fertilization and/or implantation, cannot cause an abortion, and if taken while pregnant, causes no harm to the pregnancy.
Rep. Mina Morita pointed out that opposition to EC comes from misinformation and that people confuse RU-486, the so-called “abortion pill,” to emergency contraception. The two work in different ways with different chemicals.
Senate Bill 658 was passed by the legislature April 25. St. Francis Medical Center on Oahu opposed it, asking for an exception, or “conscience clause,” for them and any other religious-affilated hospitals that are opposed to abortion and contraception and do not believe in administering medication they feel could cause an abortion. Morita noted that St. Francis receives public funding, their reasoning was not in line with the Catholic Health Directive, which supports EC for rape victims, and that providers should follow a standard of care for all patients.
Kanoho noted that if the bill passes and St. Francis denied patients emergency contraception, the hospital could face fines and potential license revocation. Kanoho said that statistics he’s viewed show that in 346 rapes reported in Hawaii last year, a large percentage resulted in pregnancy and that 78 percent of those pregnancies were to women under age 20.
Sexual Assault Response Team director Renae Hamilton said emergency contraception for such victims is offered on Kauai, but rape victims who seek treatment for assault often don’t report the sexual assault.
Morita commented on the possibility of Lingle vetoing the measure: “I think it would be very hard to override (a veto) because there were at least 20 votes against it in the Legislature.”
House Bill 123, which would allow women to receive EC without a prescription, was passed April 28 with fewer than 10 opposing votes, and was introduced as part of the women’s legislative package.
Staff Writer Kendyce Manguchei can be reached at mailto:kmanguchei@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 252).
