Sept. 19, 2005

National journal publishes Oregon emergency contraception study

Only 61 percent of rape patients receiving treatment at an Oregon hospital emergency room in 2003 were routinely offered emergency contraception, according to a new study by public health researchers in the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS).

The study appeared in the August, 2005 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Offering emergency contraception to eligible rape patients is a national standard of care that has been endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Public Health Association.

"Every woman who has been sexually assaulted should be offered emergency contraception when they go to the emergency department," said Ken Rosenberg, M.D., DHS medical epidemiologist and lead researcher on the study. "It's an important part of the treatment protocol, because the emergency room is often the rape patient's first and only medical care visit."

The study found that:

Ninety-one percent of emergency departments had written protocols for rape patients, but 43 percent of those protocols did not include offering emergency contraception.

Hospitals with written protocols for the care of rape patients that included offering emergency contraception were more likely to routinely offer it.

Catholic hospitals were as likely as non-Catholic hospitals to routinely offer emergency contraception to rape patients.

Rosenberg said that emergency contraception is the same as any other form of contraception in that it prevents pregnancy from occurring; it does not interfere with an established pregnancy.

Because emergency contraception is most effective when taken within 12 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse, speedy access is critical. Although it can still be taken for up to five days afterward, its effectiveness diminishes with the passage of time, according to Rosenberg.

Five states--California, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina and Washington--require emergency contraception to be dispensed on request to women who have been sexually assaulted.

Study findings were based on interviews with personnel from 54 of Oregon's 57 hospital emergency departments. A complete copy of the study, "Emergency Contraception in Emergency Departments in Oregon, 2003," can be obtained by calling Rosenberg at (971) 673-0237.