The Department of Justice has issued its first-ever medical guidelines for treating sexual assault victims, and the guidelines lack any mention of emergency contraception -- the so-called morning after pill -- the standard precaution against pregnancy after rape.
Apparently the morning after pill was mentioned in early drafts of the guidelines, but were later mysteriously edited out. Gail Burns-Smith, retired director of Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services, and one of several dozen experts who vetted the protocol during its three-year development said, "in the climate in which we are currently operating, politically it's a hot potato."
At least one group is taking action, the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is now collecting signatures on a petition urging the Justice Department to fix the "glaring omission in an otherwise thorough document."
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