Press Releases

House sees face of rape
John J Sanko - Rocky Mountain News
2/26/04

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A state lawmaker who worked as a nurse in a hospital emergency room painted a portrait of a rape victim Wednesday.

If the woman's eyes aren't closed from crying, then they're closed because they're swollen and black, Rep. Ramey Johnson, R-Lakewood, told colleagues on the House floor.

Often the victim's nose is bloody. Sometimes teeth are missing. Her lips are swollen. There are bruises on her arms and breasts.

"This is the face of rape," Johnson said as she argued in favor of legislation to tell sexual assault victims about the availability of emergency contraception pills. "This bill gives women choices."

Her testimony came as opponents made a last-ditch effort to kill the bill, similar to legislation approved last year in the House but killed in a Senate committee.

Under HB 1175, which was eventually sent to the Senate on a 47-18 vote Wednesday, health providers with religious or moral objections to contraception wouldn't have to provide the information.

Hospitals would be exempt from providing it if the woman is already pregnant.

Otherwise, they must notify the rape victim that such a pill is available."Emergency contraception has been a well-kept secret. This is something women need to know about," said Rep. Betty Boyd, the Lakewood Democrat who introduced the measure. "This bill is all about preventing pregnancy."

Rep. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, protested the bill's impact on hospitals run by religious organizations.
"They feel it is their religious belief they should not be promoting the killing of an innocent life," Harvey said."That is what this bill is promoting: the killing of an innocent life. There is an opt-out position, but why should we as a state be forcing this state opinion down the throat of religious hospitals?"

But Rep. Lynn Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, argued that the bill is about contraception, not abortion.
"It is not pro-abortion," she said. "If it were, I wouldn't be here voting the way I'm voting."

Rep. Fran Coleman, a Denver Democrat, said she also could put a face on the bill - her own. She was the victim of rape.
"If there had been an ability to take this drug, that would have been my choice," she said. "I was so violated. For 30 days, I lived in fear of being pregnant.

"I had made up my mind, by the end of those 30 days, before I knew I was out of the woods, I would have that child, but I would never have that child as part of me. I would relinquish that child. Put in your mind the woman who comes into that emergency room."