Hard to believe, but rape victims in North Carolina usually have to pay for a rape examination kit that is used to find biological evidence of an attacker. Why did it take so long to make it free?
North Carolina legislature has finally done something to aid rape victims. Members of the general assembly have
vowed that the state will pay for the rape examination kits that are used to test victims of sexual assault. It's just a matter of finding the funding.
North Carolina emergency get on average 3,000 victims of sexual assault each year. Victims of assault must sometimes make a co payment of $50 for the rape kits, which collect biological evidence of assaulters. Uninsured victims can get reimbursements for kits. However, they are limited at $1,000, whereas kits can cost $1,600.
One woman got a bill in the mail for $175 and another for $193 after reporting being raped- on her 21st birthday.
"The rape was tough enough," she said. "I believed I was doing the right thing, not just for myself. Now, I've got these bills hanging over my head."
The fact that victims had to pay for these was baffling, especially to lawmakers.
"This is so maddening. The problem was hidden from view," said Sen. Eleanor Kinnaird, a Democrat from Carrboro who is co-chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee for Justice and Public Safety. "We have an obligation to deal with this."
I'm from North Carolina, and it is shameful to think that victims in my state had to pay ANYTHING. I'm glad they are working their way to getting this problem fixed.
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