Something We Should All Think About

Let me make myself very clear; I am pro-life from a pro-choice perspective.

That may be a term you've never heard before, so let me explain. If I were to conceive a child at an inconvenient time of my life by my own lack of responsibility (ie not using birth control or protection of some sort) or even by accident (ie "safe sex" was applied but one just happened to get through) then I hope that I would have the presence of mind to accept my mistake and carry the child to term and either raising it or giving it up for adoption.

If I were raped, I can't be sure I would make the same decision.

Additionally, just because I feel like that would be the right decision for me, does NOT mean it is the right decision for everyone. It also does not mean that in a situation were I was scared and confused I might not make the opposite decision of what I think and hope I would. Its easy to "guess" what you would do in a hypothetical situation, but sometimes when we are actually in a position, our real decisions don't match our "guess" decisions.

That being said, I found an interesting article on Sarah Palin today. I don't necessarily agree with the way the media is completely crucifying her and her family, but I do believe that we need to know what she (and everyone else involved in all side of the campaign) stands for. I found this article to be INCREDIBLY disturbing.

"After taking office in 1996, she allowed the town's police department to begin charging rape victims for the forensic work done in their cases. She signed off on the budget that detailed the new police policy -- a directive instituted by her hand-picked police chief after she fired his predecessor. The unexplained reversal in Wasilla's procedure dictated that rape victims, unlike the victims of other crimes, now would have to pay for the investigative work done at the crime scene.

In a rape case, of course, the crime scene is the woman's body.

When Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the town suddenly started charging rape victims between $300 and $1200 to have the rapist's DNA and other forensic evidence taken, tested, cataloged and investigated.

That meant that women who came to local police for help after being battered, brutalized and victimized, faced one more violation. These women had to pay for the privilege of having their cases treated as crimes.

Palin's then-police chief Charlie Fannon defended this policy with the explanation that he wanted to save taxpayers' money. He said the raped women's insurance policies were billed -- when possible. In those cases, the women only had to pay the deductible. Of course, this being America, many women were uninsured, unprotected from both their attackers and the big bills.

Gee, thanks, guys.

Oddly enough, Fannon did not make the same kind of choice in other criminal cases. He did not make people injured by hit-and-run drivers or mugging victims or the families of murdered men and women cough up money to investigate their cases or collect evidence to catch their attackers.

It only happened in rape cases.

Hmmm.

Now, why would that be?

There is one terrible possibility: that this happened because somebody in charge in Wasilla -- either the police chief or the Mayor or both -- hails from the craziest corner of the pro-life community, the people who believe that birth control is abortion.

These people oppose paying for forensic work in rape cases because as part of that process -- as a final step in a humiliating and dehumanizing procedure -- a woman is typically asked if she would like a "morning after" pill, a medication that will prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the lining of her uterus. The treatment is believed to be about 80% effective in preventing pregnancy."

All that being said, if I or any of my friends were (God forbid) ever to be raped, it would be an absolute OUTRAGE if any of us were ordered to pay for our rape kit. That is essentially implying that the rape were our fault and we should be held responsible for it- don't even get me started on that. 

If you wanna finish reading the rest of the article then click here