Providing Emergency Contraception to Sexual Assault Survivors

Emergency contraception (EC) is an FDA-approved form of contraception that prevents pregnancy. Timely access to EC is particularly important for victims of sexual assault. Providing EC to survivors is an integral component of a comprehensive medical response to sexual assault – failure to provide EC as an option can deny survivors control over their bodies at a critical time and cause further trauma by forcing them to confront an unwanted pregnancy. Unfortunately, many hospital emergency rooms – Catholic hospitals in particular – do not provide information about or access to EC to survivors of sexual assault.

Document(s):

ECsexualassaultAug09.pdf