I'm a lawyer. The McCain campaign people writing Sarah Palin's response to this written interview are also likely lawyers. We choose our words carefully. With that in mind, why does Sarah Palin keep responding to this rape kit issue (the charge that her city charged rape victims for their own rape kits and rape exams) with an answer talking about "evidence-gathering tests"?
Rape kits and rape exams aren't just comprised of "evidence gathering." They also often include administering emergency contraception to make sure the rape victim doesn't have to give birth to her rapist's child.
So, while it is interesting to know that Palin doesn't support charging rape victims for "evidence gathering," how does she feel about charging for the non-evidence-gathering aspect of the rape kit and the rape exam - administering the morning after pill? She never tells us. But she always gives a craftily worded answer that makes us THINK she answered the question, when she really hasn't. So how about some real answers before we make a woman president who would punish rape victims for their crime committed against them?
ThinkProgress has her latest craftily written non-answer:
Q: During your tenure as mayor in 2000, then police chief Charlie Fannon commented in a May 23, 2000 Frontiersman article about legislation Gov. Tony Knowles signed protecting victims of sexual assault from being billed for rape kits collected by police as part of their investigations. Fannon revealed then that Knowles’ decision would cost Wasilla $5,000 to $14,000 a year, insinuating that the department’s policy was to bill victims for this testing. During your tenure as Mayor, what was the police department and city’s standard operating procedure in recovering costs of rape kits? Were any sexual assault victims ever charged for this testing while you were mayor?
A: The entire notion of making a victim of a crime pay for anything is crazy. I do not believe, nor have I ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test. As governor, I worked in a variety of ways to tackle the problem of sexual assault and rape, including making domestic violence a priority of my administration.
