[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1214 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1214

 To require that the recommended national protocol for sexual assault 
   medical forensic examinations include a recommendation that rape 
   victims be offered information about emergency contraceptives to 
                           prevent pregnancy.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 10, 2005

Mrs. Maloney (for herself, Mr. Shays, Ms. Watson, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Van 
Hollen, Mr. Pallone, Ms. Slaughter, Ms. Lee, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Towns, 
 Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. Solis, Mr. Waxman, 
  Mr. Michaud, Mr. Bishop of New York, Ms. McCollum of Minnesota, Mr. 
   Gutierrez, Ms. Waters, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. Nadler, Mr. 
Lantos, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Owens, Mr. Payne, Mr. Farr, Mr. Price of North 
Carolina, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Harman, Mr. Allen, Mr. Rothman, Mrs. Capps, 
  Mr. Berman, Mrs. McCarthy, Mr. Brown of Ohio, Mr. Wu, Ms. Linda T. 
Sanchez of California, Mr. Meeks of New York, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Moran of 
  Virginia, Mr. Pascrell, Mr. Crowley, and Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require that the recommended national protocol for sexual assault 
   medical forensic examinations include a recommendation that rape 
   victims be offered information about emergency contraceptives to 
                           prevent pregnancy.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Best Help for Rape Victims Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRED ELEMENT OF NATIONAL PROTOCOL FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT 
              MEDICAL FORENSIC EXAMINATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1405 of the Violence Against Women Act of 
2000 (42 U.S.C. 3796gg note) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(d) Required Element of Protocol.--The national protocol required 
by subsection (a)(3) shall include a recommendation to the effect that 
a victim of sexual assault who is at risk of pregnancy from rape--
            ``(1) should be offered information about emergency 
        contraception; and
            ``(2) should, if the victim so requests, be provided with 
        emergency contraception on site.''.
    (b) Implementation to Protocol Already Issued.--The Attorney 
General shall ensure that any protocol already issued under section 
1405(a)(3) of the Violence Against Women Act of 2000 is, not later than 
30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, revised and 
reissued in a form that complies with section 1405(d) of that Act (as 
added by subsection (a)(2) of this section).
                                 <all>