7d96f03d-f3a4-4931-a13e-557473c96f36.jpgPeople in the blogosphere became familiar with the battle in Connecticut to require all publicy funded hospitals to offer Plan B contraception last year after Joe Lieberman made his famous comment about it being only a "short ride" to another hospital for rape victims who had the misfortune to be treated at Catholic hospitals.

Maura brings us the good news:

After three hours of debate in the Connecticut House of Representatives, the Compassionate Care for Victims of Sexual Assault Act passed the House in a decisive vote of 113 in favor and 36 opposed.  I'll link to the official vote tally once it is available.  Here's the full roll call vote.

The vast majority of speakers who spoke in favor of the bill cited the importance of ensuring a consistent standard of care at all Connecticut hospitals, so that any rape victim who seeks medical treatment in the immediate aftermath of rape would be offered medically accurate information on emergency contraception and, if the patient wished, would be given the full dosage of the medication at the hospital.

Congratulations to everyone who made this happen. It's a real victory.  Supporters of the bill even included Lieberman buddy Jim Amman.  Looks like people in CT care about as much what Joe thinks on the matter as they did about his non-participation in the annual JJB dinner recently where few mentioned his name and Ned Lamont got a standing ovation, which is to say not at all.

I'd also like to take a moment here to thank Urban Pirate and CT Bob who last year tried to organize a silent march from one hospital to the next during the Lamont campaign.  The idea got shot down by those afraid that it would offend Catholics in the state (which never made sense to me since 74% of the state's Catholics thought Plan B ought to be offered in Catholic hospitals, but whatever).  It was really heartening that two men were really committed to womens' reproductive rights and went to all that trouble, Bob even went down and paid money and took out a permit.  We were gonna dress up in hospital gowns (because they often confiscate clothing after a rape) and push around a hospital gurney.  A nice piece of political theater that never happened. 

I can't find a link but Maura was over here the other day when the bill was being debated telling stories at the expense of male CT legislators whose ignorance about basic reproduction was quite astonishing, matched only by that of Ann Althouse.   

And you were what, surprised? 

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