Alaska governor Sarah Palin has a lot in common with Rick Perry, governor of Texas. They're both against stimulus money, have secessionist tendencies and now they have another link: Texas is following in the famous mayor of Wasilla footsteps by charging victims for their rape kits.Of course Sarah Palin denied that she approved of this practice when confronted with the facts that were surfacing during the vice presidential campaign, but she was the boss and had appointed the police chief who defended charging rape victims to the bitter end, even as it was being outlawed by the Alaska Legislature...
There's speculation about Sarah Palin's motives for condoning this insult to rape victims: the kits include the "morning after" pill and it goes against her anti-abortion beliefs. Don't forget that she believes that victims of rape and incest should bear and give birth to the offspring of their attackers. In her mind, only pro-life governors of state have the choice to forego an abortion, even if the baby is her husband's or not her baby at all.
There's an excellent article about the Wasilla rape kits on alternet.org and another one on Feministe.
Mother Jones , Think Progress and HuffPo have articles about the Texas rape kits.
(Thanks for the tip, Sue.)
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