Some Victims Charged for their Rape Kit Testing
Despite Promises, Some Rape Victims Stuck Paying Exam Bills, by Ben Protess, Huffington Post Investigative Fund, and Emily Witt, ProPublica, reports,
When a woman is raped, police turn to scientific evidence-semen, blood and tissue samples-to identify her attacker. The evidence is collected through a medical exam of the victim, who is not supposed to pay for this crime-solving process.
But 15 years after Congress passed a law to ensure that rape victims would never see a bill, loopholes and bureaucratic tangles still leave some victims paying for hospital expenses and exams, which can cost up to $1,200.
Wow, that’s awful. I agree with them 100%. I don’t know what else to say. I just wish they wouldn’t have snuck this bit in:
During the campaign, it came to light that until 2000, police in some Alaska towns charged rape victims or their insurance companies up to $1,200 for forensic exams – including the town of Wasilla where vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was mayor from 1996 to 2002.
While Illinois also comes in for special attention, they don’t mention that when Barrack Obama was a member of the state legislature, he never introduced legislation to sort their problems out.