In upcoming state congressional sessions Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, will be leading the campaign to introduce a bill mandating all state emergency rooms to provide information about emergency contraception and provide this contraception to those sexual assault and rape victims who request it.

The state Assembly rejected similar legislation in 2001, and upon being reintroduced the mandate has been a point of contention between pro-life and pro-choice advocates.

?Sexual assault victims should be given information and access to emergency contraception as it is in accord with the American Medical Association?s guideline for victim assistance,? said Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison.

Wisconsin law currently grants hospitals the right to deny patients treatment deemed morally objectionable such as abortion and sterilization. The proposed law would remove this right in cases concerning victims of sexual assault.

Peggy Hamill, the director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, said the term ?emergency contraception? was a misnomer.

?The emergency contraception is two doses of birth control consumed within seventy-two hours of sexual contact,? Hamill said.

Preven and Plan B, the two drugs used, reduce the risk of fertilization and create an altering of the uterus lining. This will cause a woman to be unable to become impregnated by preventing a fertilized egg from attaching itself to the wall of the uterus.

Pro-life supporters say this third method of prevention is really a form of abortion.

Hamill said information provided about Preven and Plan B ?spell out clearly the abortive action of the morning after pill? and made passionate arguments against the drugs.

?If a hunter sees movement in the bushes they do not fire until they are sure it?s not a person,? Hamill said. ?This is the same way.?

Supporters of the legislation feel sexual victims deserve the right to access preventative drugs and are not receiving that opportunity.

?Less than one half of emergency rooms in Wisconsin provide information on emergency contraception,? Black said. ?Twenty-one out of seventy-two counties within the state will not prescribe emergency contraceptive.?

Whether or not the bill has chance of passing remains to be seen. The 2001 emergency contraception bill was passed on a bipartisan vote in the Senate, but was never voted on in the assembly.

?From what I?ve read, it?s the same bill as before,? said Rep. Anne Nischke, R-Waukesha. ?I?m pro-life, thus I?m strongly opposed.?

If the legislation is passed some believe hospitals will raise their own opposition.

?The bill will not only face resistance due to the abortion issue, but also because hospitals do not like mandate. There?s going to be disagreement from all areas,? Hamill said.

In April 2002, U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., supported a similar legislation that was introduced in Congress. The bill was referred to the Congressional Subcommittee on Health, but did not progress to further action.

Black and other proponents of the legislation hope the legislation will progress further in its current incarnation.

?My hope is that a great many citizens will inform their legislatures of their opinion,? Black said. ?Sexual assault victims should be given options.?