As Maureen Dowd writes: "You know how bad the situation is when the president's choice for attorney general has to formally pledge not to support torture anymore," (NYT 01.06.05), but it's the steady drip drip drip of Orwellian doublespeak, administrative rulemaking, and information mypopia that truly feels like torture sometimes.
In today's printed Strib, there is an AP story on new proposed Federal rape-treatment guideliens, which omit any mention of emergency contraception, contrary to an earlier draft.
Bizarrely - or not - there is no link to the letter, the government guideliens, or any further information related to the story. You can run your own drip of excuses on that one from the marketing department not wanting people to leave the Strib site to the publishing people calculating the cost of someone to find the links to the legal people worried about linking to unvetted information to the letters to the editor complaining about providing information that does not fit their world view. drip. drip.drip.
Diane M. Stuart, Director
Office on Violence Against Women
Department of Justice
810 Seventh Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20531
Re: Failure to include information about emergency contraception in National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations
Dear Ms. Stuart:
We write to strongly urge you to amend the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination (Protocol) to include the routine offering of pregnancy prophylaxis (or emergency contraception) to sexual assault victims who are at risk of pregnancy from rape. The failure to include a specific discussion of emergency contraception in the first national protocol for sexual assault treatment is a glaring omission in an otherwise thorough document. Including counseling about pregnancy prevention and the provision of emergency contraception would help rape victims prevent the trauma of unintended pregnancies, avoid abortions, and safeguard their reproductive and mental health.
