Once again, truth is stranger than fiction in Pennsylvania, which does not have a state law to force hospitals to provide rape victims with emergency contraception.

For three years now, women's health in the commonwealth has taken a back seat to ideology. Some faith-based hospitals, which nevertheless serve the community at large (and in many cases are the only hospitals providing care in given geographical areas) want to deny comprehensive care by turning away a victim of sexual assault, for whom quick and easy access to the Plan B over-the-counter contraceptive is especially critical.

We are all familiar with the unyielding campaign against abortion. But recently, as the conservative tide has continued to grow, this campaign has taken on a broader and more pernicious scope.

Speaking with several legislators before their decision to table a vote on HB 288, which would provide emergency contraception, it was clear that they either see a direct connection between contraception and abortion, cannot distinguish between the two or wish to extend their religious beliefs about abortion to contraception (which has not been considered controversial by most Americans for at least 40 years). Mixing religion with accepted medical practice and long-standing legal rights is worrisome to say the least. It is nothing less than cruel to victims of sexual assault.

The sad reality is that Pennsylvania is not alone. State legislatures across the country are debating dozens of bills regarding emergency contraception -- not abortion, but contraception -- including whether pharmacies can refuse to fill orders for contraceptives or whether school districts can teach only abstinence-until-marriage "sex education" programs. Some of these programs have even misinformed our youth by telling them that condoms do little to prevent pregnancy or protect against sexually transmitted diseases. Others have discouraged teenagers from receiving the HPV vaccine, which can prevent cervical cancer, on the false basis that it will prompt young women to be more promiscuous.

This mixture of religion and medicine is pushed on the international level, as well. Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, recently spoke to the National Council of Jewish Women/Pittsburgh Section and described how the Bush administration emphasizes abstinence in government programs for AIDS relief while de-emphasizing condoms, thereby jeopardizing the health of large numbers of people, especially in Africa.

Legislators of Pennsylvania, please let science, good sense and compassion guide your votes rather than ideology. Plan B, the brand name for the most common form of emergency contraception, has been on the market since 1999. The pill, which contains concentrated amounts of progestin, a hormone found in ordinary birth-control pills, can prevent a pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. It is most effective within 12 hours.

For a little more than a year, Plan B has been available over the counter for women who are 18 or older. It is critical that information about Plan B be available and accurate. It is unfair to rape victims -- and to all women -- to blur the lines between contraception and abortion.

Let's hope HB 288 passes, clean and without any amendments that would allow an exemption for religious hospitals in Pennsylvania. Let's hope that Pennsylvania's legislators learn to distinguish between abortion and contraception and vote to provide women in Pennsylvania with accurate information about Plan B and emergency access to health care.