Tampa Police Dept denies prescribed Morning After Pill to rape victim!

[Ninong]

Christianist thugs working for the Tampa Police Department refused to allow a rape victim to take a hospital prescribed Morning After Pill because it was against the religious beliefs of the supervisor in charge.

The young woman reported the rape and was taken to the hospital for the routine medical examination. Meanwhile, the Tampa PD ran a check on her and found that she had an outstanding warrant from when she was a juvenile, so they incarcerated her. That was Saturday. She was finally released from jail Monday. While in jail, she asked that the medical staff give her the Morning After Pill that had been prescribed by the hospital's staff but the jail's medical staff refused, saying that it was against the personal religious beliefs of the Christianist terrorist in charge! They were determined that this rape victim be forced to bear the child of her rapist!!! Remember, they are Christians and you shall know them by their love! We really do live in a theocracy!

"The medical supervisor would not allow her to take the pill because she said it was against her, the supervisor's, religion. So, here we have a medical supervisor imposing her beliefs on a rape victim," claimed the victim's attorney.

You can read the sorry story here.

[almostdiva]

That is SO obnoxious in so many ways...

[Ninong]

It's more than obnoxious! I can't find words adequate to describe how barbaric it really is. To think that something like this could happen in the United States of America in the 21st Century. No wonder the rest of the civilized world laughs at us. We are still a backward nation in so many ways and thanks to our boy king, a repulsive backward nation to boot.

[Ninong]

The story is even more complicated than originally reported on that Fox affiliate website. Here is how it's described on Planned Parenthood:

Rape survivor jailed, denied emergency contraception. Act Now.

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 7:15pm
By E Lockwood
Category: Emergency Contraception

Over the past 72 hours, a 21-year-old woman in Florida was raped, jailed on an outstanding warrant (for a 2003 juvenile arrest), and blocked from taking emergency contraception because a jail worker had "religious objections" to the medication. This is an absolute outrage.

According to the St. Petersburg Times,

"A doctor had given her Plan B, the so-called ‘morning-after pill’ approved by the FDA, to prevent pregnancy. But Moore [her attorney] said a medical supervisor at the jail refused to let her take the second of the two pills on Sunday."

The woman was not allowed to take the second pill until Monday afternoon. For emergency contraception to work, the second pill must be taken within 12 hours. This woman was refused for 36. Only after media inquiries did the jail allow the woman to take the second pill. After surviving assault and rape, this woman was denied access to the care she needed and deserved. This is clear violation of a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions.

A jail worker’s personal, religious beliefs stopped this woman from making her own health care decisions. Speak out — stand up for this woman. Contact the office of Governor Charlie Crist and tell him that this is outrageous and will not be tolerated.


The full account according to the St. Petersburg Times:

TAMPA - First, police say, a 21-year-old woman was raped at Gasparilla. Then, she was handcuffed and jailed - for two nights and two days.

A jail worker with religious objections blocked her from ingesting a morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy, her attorney says, keeping her from taking the required second dose for more than 24 hours longer than recommended.

The Hillsborough Sheriff's Office wouldn't talk about her medical treatment in jail. But Tampa police are investigating why more compassion wasn't shown toward the woman after she reported her sexual assault to law enforcement.

"We may need to revisit our policy," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

The premedical student attended Saturday's Gasparilla parade and veered off from her friends shortly before 1:30 p.m., police said. The Times is not naming her because police say she is a victim of a sexual crime.

As she walked north on Howard Avenue at Swann Avenue, she was grabbed by a man with crooked teeth and raped behind a building, McElroy said.

After the assault, the man ran off. The woman walked to her car, which was parked on the University of Tampa campus. At 3:40 p.m., after finding her vehicle, she called police.

As police assisted her, taking her to a nurse examiner's clinic, and processing her report, an officer found two outstanding warrants for the woman in Sarasota County.

Attorney Virlyn "Vic" Moore III of Venice said his client was seated in the front seat of the police cruiser, on her way to the scene of her attack when the officer learned of the warrant, cuffed her and placed her in the back seat.

"To stop the rape investigation and instead victimize her again," Moore said. "I'm aghast, astonished and outraged. I have never, ever heard of this happening."

The officer arrested the woman at a sergeant's instruction, McElroy said.

The student had failed to pay $4,585 restitution after a 2003 juvenile arrest, McElroy said. Moore said his client is convinced that she paid the fine and that the warrant was probably the result of a clerical error.

The judge set no bail.

"As soon as the chief's office found out about it Monday, detectives were assigned to get her out of jail," McElroy said. "Obviously, we're very concerned about this young woman."

Jail records show the woman was booked about eight hours after the reported rape.

A doctor had given her Plan B, the so-called "morning-after pill" approved by the FDA, to prevent pregnancy. But Moore said a medical supervisor at the jail refused to let her take the second of the two pills on Sunday.

For the emergency contraceptive to work, the first pill must be taken within three days of unprotected sex and the second 12 hours after the first. The woman had already taken the first pill soon after the assault Saturday, Moore said. She was unable to take the second pill until Monday afternoon. The jail allowed it, he said, after media inquiries.

Debbie Carter, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, said she couldn't comment on the situation because medical information is private. But she said medical service policies are set by Armor Correctional Health Services, which contracts with the jail.

Armor's corporate offices were closed late Monday when the St. Petersburg Times tried to reach a spokesperson.

Police administrators learned about the woman's arrest Monday, McElroy said.

Moore worked with police to petition the court to reinstate the woman's bail so she could be freed. Jail records indicate the woman was released Monday at 5 p.m. Hillsborough Circuit Judge Walter Heinrich ordered the change in bail.

If the warrants had been for misdemeanors, the woman would not have been jailed, under a TPD policy enacted in 2002.

But she faced felony charges for failing to pay restitution, McElroy said.

"But we always have to balance that with compassion for the victim," McElroy said.

The rape suspect was described as a black man, 5-foot-7 to less than 6 feet tall, medium build with a dark complexion, in his mid 20s. He has a short Afro, brown eyes, a large flat nose and no facial hair. He was wearing a tan T-shirt and jeans.

P.S. -- To email Gov. Crist without having to go through the Planned Parenthood website, here is his official email address: charlie.crist@myflorida.com

[schrocat]

These people really should consider leaving the medical field entirely.

They just can't handle it.

Life is grey...not black and white.

[Ninong]

At first I thought they simply refused to fill her prescription but it's much worse than that. She already had both pills and had taken the first pill while still at the hospital but when she was admitted to the jail, they took away the second pill that she was supposed to take 12 hours after the first one and refused to allow her to take it because it "was against the religion" of the medical supervisor in charge at the jail, who was a contract employee.

So we have the American Taliban telling women that they cannot make their own health care decisions!

Not only that, the Tampa police officer suspended the rape investigation in favor of arresting her on the supposedly outstanding warrant for non-payment of restitution for something that happened back in 2003 when she was a juvenile. She's presently a college pre-med student. The officer was driving her to the rape scene when he received radioed instructions from his sergeant to cuff her and return to the jail.

Isn't it rather peculiar that the police all want to run warrant checks on anyone who files a complaint of any kind? That seems to be a universal tendency. They may not tell you they're doing it but they do. There was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle recently describing a survey that was conducted statewide by several media organizations to see if the various police departments were complying with a new state law requiring them to provide certain information on crime statistics, etc., to any citizen who asked for the information. They discovered that more than 95% of the police departments were not aware of the new requirement and became hostile when asked to provide the information. Virtually every police department contacted immediately demanded to see the identification of the person making the request so that they could run a background check on that person. They were even asked to provide their social security numbers in several instances. Most of the departments refused to provide any information but a few actually did cooperate. Very few!

[mistermikev]

what a surprise... people in a position of power taking advantage of it... never saw that one coming. LOL
this lady is going to get paid.
A more fitting outcome would be that the head jailer, the one who refused her the pill, was forced to reer the rape-child... I know I know - wouldn't be fair to the kid. this is no christian. just another simpleton misinterpreting faith.
"oh I'm a christain - I GO TO CHURCH" - unfortunately most people think that is all it takes.

[Ninong]

Dear Friend:

Thank you for contacting Governor Charlie Crist. The Governor understands your concerns about the arrest of a woman in Tampa and asked me to respond on his behalf.

Please understand that jails are under the control of local officials. The Governor encourages you to share your concerns with the jail administrator or the Honorable David A. Gee, Sheriff of Hillsborough County by writing to Post Office Box 3371, Tampa, Florida 33601-3371.

Those with Internet access can obtain Information about this case and the ongoing investigation at http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBQ2MT4OXE.html.

Although the Governor appreciates the opportunity to review your concerns, this is a local government matter. Our government is structured on the notion that local communities can best assess the needs of their residents.

Thank you again for writing. For more information about the Governor’s initiatives, please visit our website at www.flgov.com.

Sincerely,

Warren Davis
Office of Citizen Services