Emergency contraception in emergency departments in Oregon, 2003

We sought to learn about access to emergency contraception (EC) in Oregon emergency departments, both for women who are rape patients and for women who have had consensual unprotected sexual intercourse ("nonrape patients").

We interviewed emergency department staff in 54 of Oregon's 57 licensed emergency departments in February-March 2003 (response rate = 94.7%).

Only 61.1% of Oregon emergency departments routinely offered EC to rape patients. Catholic hospitals were as likely as non-Catholic hospitals to routinely offer EC to rape patients. The hospitals most likely to routinely offer EC to rape patients had a written protocol for the care of rape patients that included offering EC (P = .02) and access to staff with specialized sexual assault training (P=.002). For nonrape patients, 46.3% of emergency departments discouraged the prescribing of EC. Catholic hospitals were significantly less likely than non-Catholic hospitals to provide access to EC for nonrape patients (P=.05).

Oregon emergency departments do not routinely offer EC to women who have been raped or to women who have had consensual unprotected sexual intercourse.