Emergency contraception bill fails in House

A House subcommittee killed a bill along party-lines that would require healthcare providers to give emergency contraceptives to sexual assault survivors.

The bill, HB2097, was proposed by Del. Sally Hudson, D-Albermarle. The majority Republican Health, Welfare and Institutions Subcommittee #3 voted to lay the bill on the table, which essentially kills it for this legislative session.

“I hope it should come as no surprise that the number one concern of [sexual assault] survivors seeking treatment in Virginia’s hospitals is pregnancy,” Hudson said as she began her introduction of the bill. “Most people don’t want to be forced to bear a child after non-consensual intercourse.”

Hudson said the most effective medical interventions to protect sexual assault survivors from pregnancy are emergency contraception, which take two forms: oral emergency contraception pills, such as Ella and Plan B, and intrauterine devices (IUDs). The efficacy of emergency contraception pills decrease with the patient’s BMI and are less effective during the period of ovulation, Hudson explained, making IUDs an important option for patients.

“In working with forensic nurse examiners and sexual assault nurse examiners in my district, I have heard increasing reports that the additional opportunity to intervene in a potential pregnancy is not always covered by the Virginia Crime Victims Fund and is not always available depending on the prescriber who is on duty in facilities that night,” Hudson said.

HB-2097 would ensure that survivors of sexual assault can receive appropriate courses of treatment by requiring that the Virginia Crime Victims Fund cover emergency contraception, just as it covers rape examination kits, Hudson said. Additionally, the bill would require that hospitals have in place plans to ensure that patients can receive their preferred course of treatment, even if an individual provider may have objections on moral or religious grounds.

“Importantly, nothing in this bill would require an individual provider to administer emergency contraceptives in violation of their personal, moral or religious objections to that treatment,” Hudson reiterated. “It simply requires that hospitals have in place a plan to ensure provision of that care if an individual provider would object.”

Renee Branson, the executive director of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency in Charlottesville,. spoke in favor of the bill, wearing a black “Believe Survivors” t-shirt and a teal sexual assault awareness ribbon.

“A key component of care in [sexual assault survivors’] healing, both physical and emotional, begins with the return of their autonomy and self-control over the healthcare that they receive,” Branson said.

Ashley Apple, the commissioner for government relations for the Virginia Nurses Association, also spoke in favor of the bill.

“Perpetrators of sexual violence often target those who are most vulnerable,” Apple said. “Those living in poverty are particularly at risk. The Crime Victims Fund was intended to shift the financial burden to perpetrators of sexual violence rather than survivors of sexual violence, but unfortunately, many have been denied access to the most effective method of emergency contraception.”

Karen Kelly, representing the Virginia Affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives, emphasized the distinction between emergency contraception and abortifacients in her support of the bill.

“Emergency contraception works by preventing ovulation or fertilization,” Kelly said. “It prevents pregnancy, it does not induce abortion nor disrupt an established pregnancy.”

Those that spoke in opposition to the bill all cited conflict with Virginia’s current conscience law, which does not require individual physicians, hospitals, or other medical facilities to participate in procedures that will result in abortion if there are objections on personal, ethical, moral or religious grounds.

“We certainly support compassionate care for survivors of sexual assault, but we also support Virginia’s current conscience law,” Jeff Caruso, representing the Virginia Catholic Conference, said. “This would be a mandate on certain providers.”

Caruso also noted that the VCC opposes the public funding of abortion, and brought up concerns that one of the emergency contraception drugs mentioned, Ella, can sometimes lead to abortion.

In December 2022, the Food and Drug Administration changed the information on the box of Plan B to make clear that it does not prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the womb and that the product cannot be described as abortion pills, according to reporting by the New York Times. Less research has been conducted on Ella and the F.D.A.’s change will not affect its labels, but studies suggest that it is highly unlikely to prevent implantation of a fertilized egg.

After public comment had ended, Del. Kathy Tran ,D-Fairfax,, drew attention to lines 208-211 of the bill.

“‘Dispensing or administering a complete course of emergency contraception in the form or forms requested by the survivor of sexual assault after the survivor is provided with information pursuant to subdivision 4 and in accordance with the currently accepted professional standards of care -’ and this is the part I’d like to highlight, ‘- including instances of moral or religious objections by individual health care providers,’” Tran read.

Tran asked the lawyer present at the meeting, Chandler Brooks, if HB-2097 sufficiently respected Virginia’s conscience clause.

“As written it does require the hospitals to develop policies that allow for individual providers to not have to administer anything that would conflict with their personal religious beliefs,” Brooks affirmed.