Crazy Sarah Palin calls the practice of making rape victims pay for kits "crazy"

[ProSense]

Palin On Rape Kit Accusations: ‘The Entire Notion Of Making A Victim Of A Crime Pay For Anything Is Crazy’

The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman — the hometown newspaper of Sarah Palin — reports that the Governor has replied to a list of 14 submitted questions. Among the queries was a question about the fact that, while she was mayor of Wasilla, her administration’s policy was to “bill victims” for their rape kits:

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.

It is indeed “crazy,” yet charging sexual assault victims for their rape kits (which cost $300 to $1,200 at the time) is exactly what happened while she was mayor of Wasilla. In a budget-cutting move, Palin’s administration began charging rape victims for exams and the kits containing the medical supplies. (Her signature is on the budget.) USA Today reported:

It is not known how many rape victims in Wasilla were required to pay for some or all of the medical exams, but a legislative stIt was more than a couple of cases, and it was standard practice in Wasilla,” Peggy Wilcox said, who now works for the Alaska Public Employees Association. “If you were raped in Wasilla, this was going to happen to you.”

The practice of charging rape victims got the attention of state lawmakers in 2000, who passed a bill to stop the practice.

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Crazy Sarah, trying desperately to look normal.

[uppityperson]

1. Charging the victim of a crime to gather evidence of the crime is wrong.

Too bad she signed that into her budget. She started charging, the legislators were so appalled they passed a law changing that.

[AzDar]

2. Sarah Palin is a liar...someone apparently willing to do or say anything to realize her gnarly

ambitions. She and Five-Plane are quite the pair.....


:puke:

[SurfingAtWork]

3. Wow, she is really good at giving a non-answer.

If you carefully read her response, the never says "No, we did not charge for rape kits". She said that notion was crazy, and her administration did various things to tackle sexual assault.. but she never simply denies that the practice went on under her administration.

[blondeatlast]

4. The bloodthirsty practice worked two ways: they charged for the rape kits

and the victims may not have pressed charges knowing they'd have to pay so they saved the charge to investigate.

Satan would be proud...

[MarjorieG]

5. Said to Katie doesn't agree with people going to jail over abortion. Overturning Roe v Wade takes...

away choice and would send to jail. She must know that.

Katie, et al, need to be armed with quotes and figures for her to defend. Joe better have some ready.

[VolcanoJen]

6. That's one thing that scares me, and drives me crazy, about the anti-choicers.

They want Roe v. Wade overturned and abortion made illegal throughout the states. That is their stated goal.

However, they flinch whenever you pose this question to them: "If abortion becomes illegal, what do you think the punishment should be for a doctor who provides the medical procedure and the woman who undergoes it?"

They always hem and haw. But it's an important point: If abortion is a crime, there must be a punishment attached to it.

Why the hell can't they ever answer the question?

[qwlauren35]

9. What level of crime, though?????

Is it a felony? Or a misdemeanor???

It's possible that some will accept it as a misdemeanor, and others may choose to call it manslaughter, or it may end up falling into it's own special class of "fetucide". A $1000 fine would be rather prohibitive.

Now, if a doctor's license to practice could be suspended for performing abortions, I guarantee that most of them would stop.

The RU-486 would instantly go on the black market.

It would be very, very messy. But it would not be the same as it was. The world is too different.

[Window]

7. Damn. Everything that comes out of their mouths is a lie.

[noiretextatique]

8. another BIG lie

unlike those who ae feeling sympathetic towards her, the more i hear about her, the more i despise her crazy ass.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. Someobdy needs to ask her if she knows what a rape kit is, that might explain the disparity

Knowing her she probably thinks it's something you use to rape people.