N.Y.C. Admin. Code § L.L. 2003/026: L.L. 2003/026

Enactment date: 4/9/2003

Int. No. 281-A

By Council Member Moskowitz, Gioia, Quinn, the Speaker (CM Miller), Reyna, Clarke, Baez, Comrie, Davis, Gerson, Jackson, Koppell, Lopez, Monserrate, Nelson, Perkins, Recchia, Reed, Sanders, DeBlasio, Brewer, Yassky, Katz, Sears, Weprin and The Public Advocate (Ms. Gotbaum); also Council Members Seabrook and Stewart

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the administration of emergency contraception to rape victims in emergency departments.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Legislative history and intent. In 2002, 2,013 rapes were reported to the New York City Police Department. Public health and public safety advocates alike acknowledge that the number of rapes reported to authorities constitute only a fraction of the number of rapes that actually occur. Alarmingly, between one and five percent of all rapes end in pregnancy (Holmes, et al., Rape-related Pregnancy: Estimates and Descriptive Characteristics from a National Sample of Women, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 175:2, 1996). Over half of these pregnancies will end in abortion.

Emergency contraception (EC) is a safe and effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy. Approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 1997, EC works to prevent pregnancy by delaying ovulation or preventing fertilization. If taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, EC reduces the risk of unintended pregnancy by as much as 89 percent. EC is frequently and erroneously confused with mifepristone and methotrexate, drugs used in medical abortion. EC differs from these drugs by working to prevent pregnancy from occurring instead of terminating an established pregnancy. The provision of EC to rape victims is considered to be the accepted standard of care for treatment of rape victims by the New York State Department of Health, as well as health professional organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association and the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Surveys on the provision of EC in emergency departments in New York City hospitals reveal that approximately half of New York City emergency departments do not provide rape victims with EC. Significantly, these surveys also reveal that emergency departments operated by the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation do in fact provide EC.

The Council finds that the provision of EC to a rape victim when medically appropriate aids to reduce the trauma already inflicted on the victim by preventing an unwanted pregnancy from resulting from that rape. The City Council further finds that the prevention of unintended pregnancies resulting from rape avoids costs associated with unwanted pregnancy, including medical care and foster care, some of which are ultimately borne by the City. Therefore, the Council declares that New York City should contract only with hospitals which provide rape victims with the accepted standard of care for treatment of such patients, including the administration of emergency contraception.

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 3. Severability. If any subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or other portion of the local law that added this section is, for any reason, declared unconstitutional or invalid, in whole or in part, by any court of competent jurisdiction, such portion shall be deemed severable and such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the local law that added this section, which remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect.

§ 4. Effective date. This section shall take effect forty five days after its enactment; provided, however, that any rules consistent with this local law and necessary to its implementation may be promulgated prior to such effective date.