This is the reason Wasilla was the only town in Alaska that charged rape victims for their own examinations. AMERICAblog is on the story. We need to get this out now.
This is a raging debate in the pro-life community. You can blame the GOP for spreading disinformation about Plan B and RU-486. The differences in how they work could not be farther apart. Plan B is a high dose of levonorgestrel, a drug that has been used in birth control pills for 35 years. But don't let little old facts get in the way of politicizing a woman's health, especially after she is hospitalized for rape.
Jame Hamsher reporting at The Huffington Post:
In Connecticut, rape counseling activists say a recent study concludes that about 20% of state hospitals routinely refuse to offer emergency contraceptives to rape victims who are determined to be ovulating at the time they're attacked.
That's right. And pharamacists have been doing this for years. Refusing to dispense prescriptions lawfully written by a doctor because of their own moral beliefs.
This is from a Washington Post article in 2005:
Some pharmacists across the country are refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control and morning-after pills, saying that dispensing the medications violates their personal moral or religious beliefs.
The question must now be asked: Do you, Sarah Palin, believe that emergency contraception is murder?
Alaska Governor Tony Knowles signed a bill into law in 2000 that would make it illegal to charge victims for their own rape kits, because Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon thought it was too much of a tax burden on his town. From my investigation, I cannot find any documentation that there was any other town in America that charged victims for their own kits.
Palin believes the following:
-Rape victims should pay for their own rape kits.
-Rape victims should not be given Plan B because preventing pregnancy from a rapist is akin to murder.
-Rape victims who do get impregnated, should carry the child to full term.
And worst of all, she was in a position of power to make her own extremist religious viewpoints the law of the land.
Disgusting.
Indefensible.
PS Know what Lieberman said in response to the New Haven Register asking about this practice?
In Connecticut, it shouldn't take more than a short ride to get to another hospital.
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updated
In response to an unnamed commenter below [asked to be removed from this post]:
Asked if rape kits include Plan B.
This is from Wiki:The hospital provides the victim with any preventive medicine necessary (for tetanus, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, etc.).
updated x2
AMERICAblog is not letting this go. Their front page now is a request for anyone to contact Eleanor Smeal, former president of NOW. This story could have legs. Now that there is another narrative for Palin's motives, we need to keep this above water.
For those who say this is a "Palin sucks" diary, I respectfully disagree with you. This is a REAL issue that affects REAL women.