While Sarah Palin was mayor, Wasilla charged victims for their rape exams
 

Tell me it isn't true... But then again she opposes abortion even in cases of incest or rape. :( I guess this is what we call executive experience?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/...ams/index.html

I find it hard to believe she had no knowledge of the town rebuking a law to make rape exams free. My cousin is the mayor of a small town and she is informed of everything on a daily basis. Maybe it wasn't considered important or not a priority?

I would think making them free would work, especially if the rapist is caught, charge the perp, not the victim.

This was a town of 7000. If she didn't know, then she wasn't a very effective mayor in my opinion. Talk about being kicked while you're down. I wonder what happens under her rule while she's governor of a state of 900,000? I certainly don't want her to be 2nd in command of my country.

Just a reminder - our Political policy
From our sticky thread -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread53203.html

I think anyone who
 

voters the McCain/Palin ticket should research Palin carefully.

What you can find now, documented is very very scary!

Thanks Jo,

I'm trying to keep the rules in mind.

This is concerning; thank you for the article.
I do hope 1) she has had an epiphany that things like this are wrong, should not be done and when a problem in the system is discovered it should be corrected immediately and 2) that she addresses this particular situation at some point openly.

another side to the story
 

it's always good to do some research and find out what the whole truth is. did you know that this is NOT the only city in the USA that has had or still has this law?

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/arc...for_rape_kits/

Despite claims to the contrary, there is no record that the Wasilla Police Department ever charged rape victims under Sarah Palin’s leadership, nor were State law enforcement or sexual assault victim’s advocates aware of such attempts anywhere in Alaska as the proposed bill was being discussed. As committee minutes show, the offenders experts were worried about were hospitals, not police, and not Sarah Palin.

added: many hospitals all over the country make it standard pratice to get insurance information on crime victims. (really anyone who enters the er) many don't even realize until llater that they were billed for the exam and kit.

I woke up this morning thinking about this. Wondering if it had been verified at snopes, etc. Journalism of yesteryear, when journalists had to check and recheck facts with a variety of reputable sources and were warned about personal bias is basically gone. In my opinion, this is a horrible loss for the people of this country. I know that between my health concerns, personal concerns and interests...I tend to get bogged down. It would have been nice to simply watch the news shows or read magazine articles + a few debates and feel confident that one was getting good quality information. Debates and or personal commentary were also provided, but they were clearly announced as such. However, it is what it is. It is a new world and I need to get with the program. LOL! So, extra thanks to Curious. I see we have to do our own fact checking and make our own best guess as to what is going on.

Sadly, with reference to Palin, if many claims are false or the facts are mixed up, it is likely hurting her reputation needlessly. I would like her to have more disscussion of the issues, and addresss some of these rumors, but if they are in excess, it just simply would not be appropriate. IMHO, I think people should be aware of any personal bias they are harboring and question why they are so troubled or threatened by this woman's persona. Our perception of things can get us into trouble. So, naturally looking at the facts as objectively as possible is helfpul and of course this means without interferrence from a biased media.

i talked to my daughter last night. she reminded me about her college getting all of her insurance information right off the bat. the same thing happens if a girl goes to the campus police to report a rape and then goes to the campus clinic. their insurance usally get billed.

reading many of the news stories was a real eye opener on how just bits and pieces of the facts were used in many articles. pretty sad.

It starts with "Charged women for". Often a person is indeed charged for something, then their insurance picks it up.
Yes curious, thats what happened with my kids & to me when I went to that college. Whenever you start just about anything the 1st thing they want is your insurance info. Afterall, someone has to pay for ___ if need be.

You can usually tell who is for what by what the person/people do. My hometown newspaper sounds like they are for ____ because they put :) info about the one on the front in big letters & any :( on the back or hidden. Then vs with the other one.

Curious, I think it's the guy who wrote that article who needs to do more research! It seems not to be whether it happened that's the issue at hand but if Palin was aware of the practice.

The story begins with the law passed in 2000. Here is an excerpt and link to an article from the local Wasilla newspaper from May of that year:

And then back to that 2008 article that Wiz posted with testimony from a politician who was aware of Wasilla's failure to comply with the law and a forensic nurse who treated rape victims across Alaska. Excerpt and link again below:

Re: Palin being aware of it, some feel the key is the town budget. She has been complimented by people who worked with her during that time as being fiscally conservative and for going over budgets in great detail.

So for whatever it's worth, HP thinks they have proof that she knew. Right or wrong, here is their take:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-..._b_125833.html

So there are these articles and then the one at the top of the page by Alex. I've read his bio. and with all due respect to him, I tend to think he might not be the best source for news. I'll certainly look him up if I need to check to see how a cigar rates though! :D

To me, something really doesn't connect somewhere but it even might be that Palin was unaware of the law herself. As far as I know, neither Palin or Fannon has commented on this issue publicly.

I just have to add that I think it's pretty ironic that Joe Biden was one of the original creators of the bill that makes it illegal for victims to be charged for rape kits.

Funny timing. I just got this -- it directly relates to Alex's assertion that no victims rights advocates were aware of what was happening.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/99845..._story/?page=1

I guess the law was passed in 2000 but the policy went into effect in 1998. Looks like an interesting article in general but I'm too tired to read it now.

Anyway, that's all the info. I have on this situation -- make of it what you will.