John Aravosis asks if Sarah Palin's decision to make sexual assault survivors pay for their own rape kits was really rooted in her extreme anti-choice ideology. He speculates that she was opposed to funding the kits because usually victims are offered emergency contraception at the time the rape kit is performed -- and people like Palin consider EC a form of abortion. (Other crazy anti-choicers have gone as far as to suggest that some women fake rape to obtain the EC that usually comes with a rape kit.)
Now, that's a possible explanation. But I think it's equally likely that she forced victims to pay for the kits themselves because of her conservative budget-cutting ways. Not because of her position on choice, but because she just doesn't think the government has a financial obligation to help women in this situation. (Or in just about any situation, really.)
Of course, it isn't necessarily either/or -- both of these things could be factors. I'm guessing we'll never know, because something tells me Palin won't be publicly explaining her decision anytime soon. But the choice angle is something interesting to think about, especially in light of the ongoing battle over physician and pharmacist refusals.
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I think it could also be that conservatives *seem* to be more likely to believe that if a woman gets raped she somehow "got herself into that situation" and are more likely to harshly judge a woman who's been raped.
This is a valid line of inquiry.
I would hope a prospective voter in the tightly scrubbed town hall crowd would ask this question.
If not a prospective voter, then perhaps a member of the traveling press.
If not the traveling press, perhaps Gwen Ifill at the Vice Presidential debate.
Although, in reality, it seems all these scenarios are unlikely.
In an attempt at preemption, it's important to clarify that asking a women about her stances on women's rights issues isn't sexist.
Her defenders claim that this was an attempt to pass the cost of the tests to the insurance companies, not the victims themselves, and that the state would step in to pick up the tab for uninsured women.
Does anyone know if a rape victim was ever asked to pay for their kit out of pocket?
It is grotesque to bill the victim for the rape kit costs. But it doesn't really appear to have been Palin's idea and it may be unfair to label her as the ogre on that phenomenon. It certainly isn't true, as the article by Bentin Mock, linked in the second paragraph of the main article, claims that :
The bill that Knowles signed didn't go into effect until 2000.I found this article dated February, 2008 about the problem of billing victims for the tests:
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-health-and-money/2008/2/21/rape-victims-can-be-hurt-financially-too.html
The practice of billing the victims should be halted everywhere if it hasn't been already. But if the practice persisted this year in pockets in Illinois, Georgia and Arkansas, I would be surprised if Wasila, Alaska was the only town doing it in the late 90's.
Beyond horrifying. Truly. Thank you for the links!
There is a third possibility -- that she's doing it to keep crime statistics down. In my hometown, rape victims are routinely subjected to harassment from both the police officers and district attorneys charged with handling these cases. As a consequence, we have a ridiculously low rape rate, because even the women who report are pressured by the agencies that handle their cases not to report their attack. Similarly, if a victim has to pay $1200 out of pocket just for the collection o evidence against her attacker, she's far less likely to have her case brought to a conviction.
Just a thought.
I have to be a blogwhore for a second and highlight a video I made for occasions like this. The idea that emergency contraception kills a fertilized egg is more fantasy than reality, and I explain why in the video. Which makes this even more appalling, because it's just ensuring conception for rape victims.
Were male victims charged to collect evidence?
Were male victims charged to collect evidence?
Were male victims charged to collect evidence?
Sorry about the multiples. New computer. Old operator.
sarah palin needs to be hung she is an insensitive cunt, how the hell could you even think of possibly charging anyone who has been through something so tramatising, degrading,humiliating,life threating,for a kit that may bring someone so repulsive to justice, charging the victim for a kit that could bring their abuser to justice,charging someone for a kit after they have been beaten and sexually abused this bitch needs to be beaten herself if anyone had any sense they would get this crotchity,cold hearted,evil,senseless, wicked,selfish, disgusting bitch out of office,we dont need people like this who after a vicious demeaning crime such as rape,charge the victim for a kit to attempt to catch the person who did this so they cant do it again this bitch is fucked in the head god how does she sleep at night, just the thought of what she is doing to these already shattered people makes me sick and i dont mean disgusted i mean physically ill something is wrong with her
Please let's use the correct terminology so as to stop denigrating the evidence collection process a rape victim/survivor must go through: the so-called "rape kit" is actually a Forensic Medical Exam. It includes a verbal portion, the external collection of evidence (clothing, hair, etc), and the internal exam (swabs for evidence and visual inspection for signs of bruising or trauma). In addition, appropriate medication is provided including not only EC (when indicated and only after a negative urine test), but anti-infectives to ward off possible sexually transmitted diseases. The foregoing is performed by nurses with 40+ hours of specialized training who earn the designation of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (paying these nurses is where the bulk of the cost comes from). Although there is a specially designed evidence collection box that contains all of the relevant tools and paperwork, it is insulting to the victims and the professionals to call all of this a "kit".
David Rees knows what's up: http://www.236.com/video/2008/get_your_war_on_sarah_palin_an_9028.php
Maybe McCain is trying to create a rape based economy.
Palin has/had a reputation for just cutting budgets, thinking it was the conservative republican thing to do, without knowledge. Her philosophy is: cut it and if no one cries then it wasn't needed in the first place. Can't wait until she is pres :-|