I taped a note to the bottle of Diet Pepsi I left in Rep. Alice Madden’s office at the state Capitol on Wednesday afternoon.
“In behalf of the women of Colorado and the men who love them,” the note said, “I am sorry to have to pay off our bet.”
The wager to which I referred was made on the floor of the House of Representatives on Monday. It was made shortly before legislators voted on a bill to override Gov. Bill Owens’ veto of legislation that would have required hospitals to tell rape victims about emergency contraception.
Madden predicted that none of the 11 Republicans who had supported the law would vote to override the Republican governor.
“Wanna bet?” I said, believing that helping rape victims is common sense and compassion. “A Diet Coke.”
“I drink Diet Pepsi,” Madden replied as we shook on the deal.
I gambled against cynicism and lost. The override needed the support of at least nine Republicans to pass with the required two-thirds majority. It failed on a straight party-line vote.
I heard from hundreds of women in the weeks after the governor vetoed emergency-contraception information in deference to the Catholic Church hierarchy and his anti-abortion base. Fooled us once, shame on us.
Democratic Rep. Betty Boyd of Lakewood, who saw Republican majorities kill emergency-contraception legislation in 2003 and 2004 and saw the Republican governor destroy this year’s bill, promises to be back with another EC measure next session.
History has already proved that’s not enough. Apparently, nothing short of a loud, sustained outcry from the silent majority will empower the weak-kneed to stand up for the right of rape victims to consistent medical care. Here are website directories for the Colorado General Assembly and governor:
www.leg.state.co.us/Clics2005a/csl.nsf/Directory?openFrameset
www.colorado.gov/governor/contact.html
Contact these people. They are, after all, supposed to be serving all Coloradans, not just those who think ovulating rape victims should not get emergency contraception.
Some folks argue that this is much ado about nothing until you find a bunch of women who actually got pregnant by rapists because doctors refused to give them EC.
That kind of thinking, combined with quack science about abortion and a tortured interpretation of the Constitution, carried the day this year.
It will carry the day for years to come until lawmakers and the governor understand that a bipartisan mainstream of Coloradans refuses to accept a double standard of medical treatment.
The other day, I got a call from a guy who claimed to be an emergency-room physician at a Catholic hospital. He told me he and his colleagues don’t give ovulation tests to rape victims as church officials say their directives require, because those tests aren’t reliable. He refused to give me his name, because he’s afraid that breaking the church’s rules will get him or his institution in trouble.
I appreciate the doc’s dilemma. But his fear of doing what’s right is a lot like the governor’s fear that the state will be sued for violating religious freedom by making Catholic hospitals meet minimum standards of care.
Note to Bill Owens: The California Supreme Court told Catholic Charities it was not primarily a religious institution because of its secular mission.
Note to everyone else: Let your elected leaders know all rape victims deserve access to emergency contraception.
Given the governor’s veto and my wager on the Republican response to the override vote, I suggest that you hedge your bets.
I’m thinking e-mails like the one sent recently to House Minority Leader Joe Stengel.
It began like this:
“How dare you …”
Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.