Raped Woman Arrested Then Denied Contraception

[The Unknown General]

A Tampa woman whom we only know as R.W., was raped. She was treated by the rape crisis center, who gave her two emergency contraception pills, one to be taken immediately and one to be taken 12 hours later. When she reported the rape to the police, they uncovered an arrest warrant on R.W. for failure to pay restitution and failure to appear. After she was arrested, a Hillsborough County guard confiscated her second pill, claiming it was against her religious beliefs.

Conscience clauses are clauses in laws in some parts of the United States which permit pharmacists, physicians, and other providers of health care not to provide certain medical services for reasons of religion or conscience. The guard took the second pill because it was agaisnt her beliefs.

http://www.examiner.com/article/woma...-contraception

Personally I think its horrible and next thing you know, women will have to marry their rapists and pay the father like the "good" book says.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Honestly, who arrests a rape victim. She isnt ing going anywhere. Now I cant understand having a warrant against you but it wasnt for robbery, murder, assault or anything else... it was for failure to pay a fine. Bogus arrest. Waste of taxpayer money locking up a rape victim.

[DimeBagHo]

In general I don't have a problem with conscience clauses. Under normal circumstances if one pharmacist refuses deal, you can find another one.

In this case the guard's claim to be a healthcare provider is dubious but, even if we accept that claim, prisoners have no access to other healthcare providers. So any conscience clause should not apply under such circumstances.

*edit* I don't think the arrest is much of an issue. Sure it's a sad story, but she brought that on herself by failing to appear on the earlier charge.

[The Unknown General]

I just cant believe she denied her the second pill, just because it was agaisnt her beliefs. If you dont want contraception or abortions, dont use one or get one, but dont try to take the right for other people to get them.

[alhoon]

I just cant believe she denied her the second pill, just because it was agaisnt her beliefs. If you dont want contraception or abortions, dont use one or get one, but dont try to take the right for other people to get them.

That.

[MathiasOfAthens]

Point is Jesus never told his disciples to tell other people what to do. He always said turn the other cheek or dust off your hands or legs I think? Point is he said look the other way and dont worry about others. She is obviously not a Jesus Christian.

[DimeBagHo]

Point is Jesus never told his disciples to tell other people what to do. He always said turn the other cheek or dust off your hands or legs I think? Point is he said look the other way and dont worry about others. She is obviously not a Jesus Christian.

She is a prison guard. Think about what that job involves for a moment.

Back in the third century when Christians came to make up a large part of the population in the Roman Empire they had to resolve the issue of whether Christians could participate in temporal government. The line taken by Augustine, and others, was that peace and order are necessary conditions for the preservation and propagation of Christianity itself, so Christians are allowed fill those roles required for the maintenance of peace and order. You can think of this as a sort of religious 'necessary and proper' clause. If God tells you to do X, but X requires Y, then it must be OK to do Y.

Some modern Christians belong to sects that reject this view, and insist that Christians should remain separate from all worldly government, but they are a very small minority. The vast majority have had no problem with exercising temporal power, i.e. "telling other people what to do", for more than one and a half millennia.

[MathiasOfAthens]

She is a prison guard. Think about what that job involves for a moment.

Back in the third century when Christians came to make up a large part of the population in the Roman Empire they had to resolve the issue of whether Christians could participate in temporal government. The line taken by Augustine, and others, was that peace and order are necessary conditions for the preservation and propagation of Christianity itself, so Christians are allowed fill those roles required for the maintenance of peace and order. You can think of this as a sort of religious 'necessary and proper' clause. If God tells you to do X, but X requires Y, then it must be OK to do Y.

Some modern Christians belong to sects that reject this view, and insist that Christians should remain separate from all worldly government, but they are a very small minority. The vast majority have had no problem with exercising temporal power, i.e. "telling other people what to do", for more than one and a half millennia.

Because power is hard to resist. And once power is taken, as in the case 4th century Rome, its hard to let go.

[DimeBagHo]

Because power is hard to resist. And once power is taken, as in the case 4th century Rome, its hard to let go.

Also pacifists don't do very well under anarchy. Anyway, it's a bit late to be complaining about Christians telling people what to do, and if you insist on that line you should address the standard Christian arguments for why it's OK.

But that religious prison guard taking away the pill from the rape victim is also against the law. Last time I checked it is only allowed to deny giving some1 such pills on religions grounds, NOT take them away. Otherwise we could be seeing religious redneck sheriffs prowling pharmacies and confiscating contraception because it's against their religion.

I expect this will be an issue. The medication had already been prescribed by a doctor, and issued by a pharmacist. I doubt that simply handing the medication back to the prisoner will be enough to qualify the prison guard as a healthcare provider under the law.

However, I still think the real problem here will be the lack of alternatives available to the prisoner. Even if the prison guard qualified as a healthcare provider, and even if she had a right to refuse to participate in treatment that she regarded as morally wrong, the state still has an obligation to provide prisoners with medical care. So the guard should have notified her superiors that she was unwilling to do her job, and they should have located someone who was willing to hand the pills over to the prisoner.

At most the conscience clause gave the guard to right to remain uninvolved; it did not give her the right to prevent the prisoner from receiving medical treatment.

[The Unknown General]

Seeing how Christians/Republican/Conservatives (I dump them into the same category because if someone is one of them, they are usually the other two as well.) are world renowned at being hypocrites and cherry pickers when it comes to bible verses. I swear next thing you now, they will introduce a law that forces woman to marry their rapists and the rapists has to pay their father, if a woman is found to not to be a virgin on her wedding night its okay to kill her, and other laws based on the "good" book.

[Imperial]

Seeing how Christians/Republican/Conservatives (I dump them into the same category because if someone is one of them, they are usually the other two as well.)

Fighting prejudice with more prejudice. Oh sweet irony.

[The Unknown General]

Fighting prejudice with more prejudice. Oh sweet irony.

Like I said I have no issues with religious beliefs, but I do have a problem with them getting into politics and forcing their views on other people. That guard had no right to take the pill away with her.

[Phier]

Seeing how Christians/Republican/Conservatives (I dump them into the same category because if someone is one of them, they are usually the other two as well.)

[Imperial]

That's not what I was referring too.

[BSZ]

The problem here is not really the arrest, it might have been very insensitive, but there was still some legal grounds for it. But how in the world was a prisoner going to have a chance to get the healthcare, which is very legal, somewhere else? Honestly, I see no other way for this to go through, than the guard being fired for grossly overstepping her bounds here.

Either that, or the law has a serious hole, which should be amended immediately. Are prison guard staff allowed to refuse other health care to inmates?

[Imperial]

The problem here is not really the arrest, it might have been very insensitive, but there was still some legal grounds for it. But how in the world was a prisoner going to have a chance to get the healthcare, which is very legal, somewhere else? Honestly, I see no other way for this to go through, than the guard being fired for grossly overstepping her bounds here.

Either that, or the law has a serious hole, which should be amended immediately. Are prison guard staff allowed to refuse other health care to inmates?

The judge has already ruled in favor for the rape victim to sue the Sheriff's department.

[BSZ]

The judge has already ruled in favor for the rape victim to sue the Sheriff's department.

Well then, case over. Close thread. Seriously.
An idiot made a mistake and court ruled against that idiot. How much shorter could an argument be?
Another few dozen pages of hate-mongering?
Political mudpit, give me your best.

[Grouchio]

Well then, case over. Close thread. Seriously.
An idiot made a mistake and court ruled against that idiot. How much shorter could an argument be?
Another few dozen pages of hate-mongering?
Political mudpit, give me your best.

Alrighty! Florida's a ed up place to be!

[nein]

>Like I said I have no issues with religious beliefs, but I do have a problem with them getting into politics and forcing their views on other people

That's pretty much how religion works

[Nikitn]

off topic: Yet often Y is forbidden by the book. There are ridiculously many contradictions in all of these Abrahamian religions

on topic: Are people here suggesting that the officers should look between the fingers and let the woman go free due to her being raped? That's an unacceptable breach of the law, and such thought could set the stage for corruption.

But that religious prison guard taking away the pill from the rape victim is also against the law. Last time I checked it is only allowed to deny giving some1 such pills on religions grounds, NOT take them away. Otherwise we could be seeing religious redneck sheriffs prowling pharmacies and confiscating contraception because it's against their religion.