Some Democratic State lawmakers say they will once again try to pass a bill that would require hospital emergency rooms to offer sexual assault victims treatment to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. The bill has languished in the legislature during the last 6 years, but Senator Nina Turner says lawmakers have been interested in anti-abortion measures lately, so this bill should be appealing.
Turner says a 2007 survey of emergency rooms shows 20 percent of Ohio hospitals do not guarantee access to emergency contraception after a woman has been sexually assaulted. She says her bill would not require the patient to submit to any treatment and would only require that hospitals give patients the options.