I would like to take this
opportunity to provide an update on several issues that I have been focusing on
over the past few months and share with you some bills I plan to introduce in
the near future.
Emergency Contraceptive
Bill Introduced: In November I introduced legislation
that would require hospitals that are treating sexual assault survivors to
provide information about emergency contraceptives and provide them to the
patient upon her request.
Emergency Contraceptives (EC)
are designed to be used for a limited time period after intercourse if a woman
is sexually assaulted. ECs are a higher dose of contraceptive pills which if
taken within 72 hours after intercourse can be up to 90% effective in reducing
unwanted pregnancies. Every year,
more than 300,000 women are raped and one in ten-about 32,000-will become
pregnant by her attacker. Half of those pregnancies end in abortion.
Despite their benefits, most
Americans do not know about ECs. Nearly 9 in 10 women of reproductive age have
either not heard of or do not know key facts about ECs. Many hospitals do not
provide ECs-even to victims of sexual assault. This flies in the face of
American Medical Association (AMA) recommended practices. This bill ensures
that rape survivors wont have to face the additional trauma of an unwanted
pregnancy.
This bill requires hospitals
to make ECs available to sexual assault survivors. It is my belief that
hospitals should be required to make emergency contraceptives available to
women who are sexually assaulted – ECs are safe, effective, cost-efficient and
increase reproductive health options for the 300,000 women who are raped each
year.
Supermax – Winds of
Change:
For many months my office, a
class action lawsuit being litigated by Ed Garvey and other organizations have
been putting pressure on the Department of Corrections (DOC) to provide reforms
at the Supermax prison. In November DOC announced some substantial changes in
the treatment of inmates at the Supermax Correctional Institution (SMCI). While more needs to occur, especially
in addressing the programming, types of inmates being held, mentally ill
inmates and more, we are happy that the DOC has agreed to treat inmates in a
more humane manner. We will continue to see that more changes occur.
A partial list of changes
include: allowing inmates to spend as little as 7 days in the intake unit as
opposed to 15 days, putting calendar clocks in all cells, increasing the amount
of exercise time and possibly allowing inmates outdoors, access to television
monitors for programming purposes at all levels, availability of additional
reading material, modification of the ventilation system and face to face
visits.
Four Pollutant Bill to
be introduced:
Soon I will be introducing
legislation that will limit the emission of harmful pollution from power
plants. Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen
Oxides, Mercury and Carbon Dioxide emissions would be targeted.
The bill requires power
plants to meet modern standards when dealing with Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen
Oxides, (old plants are allowed to emit 2 to 13 times more pollution than new
ones) thus mandating a 75% reduction from current limits by 2010. It encourages
the DNR to implement reductions to protect wildlife and humans from mercury
poisoning. And would require the reduction of Carbon Dioxide (the primary gas
contributing to the greenhouse effect) to 1990 levels by the year 2010. We are
working with a coalition of environmental groups throughout the Midwest on this
important legislation.
As always, you can reach me
at (phone) 266-8570, (e-mail) mark.pocan@legis.state.wi.us or
you may write to P.O. Box 8953 Madison, WI 53708.
I wish all a safe and happy
holiday season.
Mark Pocan