New Planned Parenthood ad: Rape kits

[MilesAustinforMVP]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq6Y-wgivIE&eurl=http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/planned-parenthoods-new-ad-about-rape.html

[Danny White]

I can't believe that these tools get hundreds of millions of our tax dollars every year. They're the worst.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/oct/01/victim-rape-ad-not-palins-town/

Victim in rape ad not from Palin's town

By Bill Adair
Published on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 01:14 p.m.

A new TV ad from Planned Parenthood opens with a rape victim named Gretchen talking about how she was raped.

"I just didn’t think it would happen to me," she says. "I was drugged and raped."

The narrator then says, "Under Mayor Sarah Palin, women like Gretchen were forced to pay up to $1200 for the emergency exams used to prosecute their attackers."

But a Planned Parenthood spokesman told PolitiFact that Gretchen was not from Wasilla, the Alaska town that sought reimbursement for rape exams, and had not been assaulted there.

"She is a rape survivor, but she is not from Wasilla," said Tait Sye, a Planned Parenthood spokesman.

He added that she was "not raped there during the time this policy was in place."

He said Gretchen is from Illinois and did not have to pay for her rape kit.

Asked if it was misleading to have a victim in the ad who is not from Wasilla, Sye said, "The script is factual. It says 'as mayor, Wasilla charged.' So somebody like Gretchen would pay. The script speaks for itself."

He said the ad "does not claim that she is from Wasilla nor does it say she was victimized by this policy."

The ad blames Palin for a Wasilla policy that that sought reimbursement for forensic exams from victims of sexual assaults. Critics contend Palin supported the policy and have criticized her for allegedly being insensitive toward rape victims.

We checked it out with this Truth-O-Meter http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/731/ ruling and found the truth is murky. Although Wasilla had such a “rape kit” policy while Palin was mayor, there is no evidence that she explicitly endorsed the policy. But nor have we found any evidence that she opposed it.

The policy sought to have rape victims’ health insurance companies reimburse the city for the $500 to $1,200 cost of a forensic exam that is conducted after a sexual assault. Presumably, some of the cost might have been passed along to the victim through requirements for deductibles or co-payments, although victim advocates say they don’t know of anyone in the small town who had to pay such a fee.

The policy came to light briefly in 2000 when the Alaska Legislature passed a law that required state and local law enforcement agencies pay the full cost of the exams. Legislators and activists have said the law was prompted by Wasilla and several other communities with a similar policy.

There’s no evidence that Palin ever commented on the rape kit policy. Bloggers and other critics contend that she must have known about it because she approved the city budget. But city documents are inconclusive. The budget documents we reviewed were signed by Palin but don’t explicitly mention the policy.

In response to recent criticism, the McCain-Palin campaign said in a statement that Palin “does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence gathering test."

Yet the campaign has not provided any evidence that Palin ever opposed the policy.

[trickblue]

Link (http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_sarah_palin_make_rape_victims_pay.html)

Q: Did Sarah Palin make rape victims pay for their own rape kits?

A: Palin's police chief in Wasilla did that. Whether Palin supported this is not certain.

We've seen countless Internet and e-mail claims that Sarah Palin forced women to pay for their own forensic testing when reporting a rape. Unlike some claims about Palin, this one has some merit, though Palin's precise role is unclear. Here's the story:

In 2000, complaints about this practice in rural cities including Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill preventing alleged victims of sexual assault from being billed for forensic tests. It was signed into law by then-Gov. Tony Knowles. Palin had been the mayor of Wasilla for four years at the time, and a local paper reported that the Wasilla police chief, Charlie Fannon, defended the practice, saying he had billed women and their insurance companies for these tests rather than placing a "burden" on taxpayers:

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (May 23, 2000): "In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victim's insurance company when possible. I just don't want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer," Fannon said.

According to Fannon, the new law will cost the Wasilla Police Department approximately $5,000 to $14,000 a year to collect evidence for sexual assault cases.

Palin wasn't quoted in any news coverage at the time. More recently, after she was picked to be Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate, her spokeswoman Maria Comella told USA Today that the governor "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test." Comella declined to answer questions about when Palin found out about the practice and what, if anything, she tried to do about it. Fannon, who is no longer the chief of police, has not spoken to the press either.

Eric Croft, a former Alaska state representative who sponsored the 2000 legislation, told CNN that "I find it hard to believe that for six months a small town, a police chief, would lead the fight against a statewide piece of legislation receiving unanimous support and the mayor not know about it." But Croft, a Democrat, says he does not recall discussing the issue with Palin at the time.

[MilesAustinforMVP]

Link (http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_sarah_palin_make_rape_victims_pay.html)

Q: Did Sarah Palin make rape victims pay for their own rape kits?

A: Palin's police chief in Wasilla did that. Whether Palin supported this is not certain.

We've seen countless Internet and e-mail claims that Sarah Palin forced women to pay for their own forensic testing when reporting a rape. Unlike some claims about Palin, this one has some merit, though Palin's precise role is unclear. Here's the story:

In 2000, complaints about this practice in rural cities including Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill preventing alleged victims of sexual assault from being billed for forensic tests. It was signed into law by then-Gov. Tony Knowles. Palin had been the mayor of Wasilla for four years at the time, and a local paper reported that the Wasilla police chief, Charlie Fannon, defended the practice, saying he had billed women and their insurance companies for these tests rather than placing a "burden" on taxpayers:

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (May 23, 2000): "In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victim's insurance company when possible. I just don't want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer," Fannon said.

According to Fannon, the new law will cost the Wasilla Police Department approximately $5,000 to $14,000 a year to collect evidence for sexual assault cases.

Palin wasn't quoted in any news coverage at the time. More recently, after she was picked to be Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate, her spokeswoman Maria Comella told USA Today that the governor "does not believe, nor has she ever believed, that rape victims should have to pay for an evidence-gathering test." Comella declined to answer questions about when Palin found out about the practice and what, if anything, she tried to do about it. Fannon, who is no longer the chief of police, has not spoken to the press either.

Eric Croft, a former Alaska state representative who sponsored the 2000 legislation, told CNN that "I find it hard to believe that for six months a small town, a police chief, would lead the fight against a statewide piece of legislation receiving unanimous support and the mayor not know about it." But Croft, a Democrat, says he does not recall discussing the issue with Palin at the time.
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[BrAinPaiNt]

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I think the slashies is the preferred net vernacular.

So next time you two do the ////'s instead.

So has it been written, so shall it be done.

:p:

[BigDFan5]

I think the slashies is the preferred net vernacular.

So next time you two do the ////'s instead.

So has it been written, so shall it be done.

:p:\|\|\|\|\|\|\|

[trickblue]

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http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/pages/page274.gif

[Danny White]

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This is, by far, the best post you've ever had in this forum.

Seriously.

[Cajuncowboy]

This is, by far, the best post you've ever had in this forum.

Seriously.

This is true but I still doubt it's truthfulness.