Here are seven things to know.
1. Under state law, Wisconsin emergency rooms must provide information about emergency contraceptive pills, also known as “morning-after pills,” to sexual assault victims. Additionally, hospitals are meant to dispense the drugs upon a patient’s request and educate staff about the drugs, according to the report.
2. Matt Sande, legislative director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, which fought the law, said in the report that some penalized hospitals may oppose the law for religious reasons.
3. Twelve of the 22 hospitals fined have been cited since 2013, according to the report.
4. Two of the 22 hospitals fined were fined twice: Cumberland Memorial Hospital, in 2009 and 2015, and North Central Health Care in Wausau, in 2008 and 2013, reports the Wisconsin State Journal.
5. SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison was fined $7,500 in April 2015 for failing to comply with the three main parts of the law, according to the report.
6. Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County in Darlington was fined $7,500 in 2015 for violating the three main aspects of the law, and Watertown Regional Medical Center was fined for the same reason in 2013, the report notes.
7. Monroe Clinic was fined $2,500 in 2016, for failing to notify rape victims they could receive emergency contraception, according to the report. Vernon Memorial Hospital in Viroqua was fined for the same thing in 2009.
For more on this story, read David Wahlberg’s full report in the Wisconsin State Journal.
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