New York ? New York is poised to become the fourth state to require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims, but a campaign to extend the policy nationwide faces tough opposition.

Particularly wary are Roman Catholic hospitals; their administrators worry that the requirements might in some cases conflict with their refusal to perform abortions.

With Gov. George Pataki expected to sign a bill within days, New York will join California, Washington and New Mexico in requiring hospitals to provide access to emergency contraceptives. But bills pending in Congress that would impose the requirement nationally do not appear to be a priority for the Republican leadership.

“Our opponents try to frame this as an abortion issue, but it’s not — it’s a crime victims’ issue,” said Destiny Lopez, who lobbied for the New York bill on behalf of the state chapter of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

There are no national statistics on hospital policies regarding emergency contraceptives, but NARAL and its allies say surveys from several states indicate that fewer than half of all hospitals routinely offer the so-called morning-after pills to rape victims.

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America estimates that 300,000 U.S. women are sexually assaulted each year, with about 25,000 becoming pregnant as a result. More than 80 percent of these pregnancies could be prevented with use of emergency contraceptives, Planned Parenthood contends.

Although Catholic doctrine forbids the use of contraceptives in marital intercourse, Catholic hospitals are permitted to administer the morning-after pill to rape victims — but not if the medical staff determines that fertilization has occurred.

The most common form of emergency contraception is a set of pills to be taken in two doses, 12 hours apart, as soon as possible after unprotected intercourse. The pills prevent fertilization — and are different from the abortion pill RU-486 — though Planned Parenthood says most American women know little about them.

The Rev. Michael Place, president of the Catholic Health Assn., said the 600-plus hospitals under his purview tried to provide rape victims with “the full range of compassionate, effective medical care.”

However, he said, the advocacy groups pushing for mandatory emergency-contraception access were trying to force Catholic medical personnel to compromise their beliefs on abortion.

“They’re using a legitimate objective to pursue another agenda — to change the definition of when life begins,” Place said.

In New York, the Catholic hierarchy dropped its opposition to the bill after language was added allowing hospitals to withhold the contraceptive drugs from women who may have already become pregnant.

Once that happened, the bill sailed through, winning unanimous backing in the Republican-controlled Senate.