1.31.2007

Woman Who Reports Rape Is Arrested, Denied "Morning After" Pill/Emergency Contraception

When I heard this on Democracy Now! this morning on the drive down to my doctor's appointment, it made me ill. Here's the post from Vermont's own Reason and Brimstone (and gee, Florida? who could have ever guessed?):

Welcome to the Republic of Gilead:
    TAMPA - A 21-year-old woman told police Saturday that a man grabbed her off Howard Avenue and raped her behind a building during the Gasparilla festivities.

    But officers investigating the case arrested her after learning she had an outstanding warrant from her teenage years for failure to pay restitution.

    She spent the next two nights in jail.
    [snip]
    Adding to the mother's ire is her claim that a jail nurse prevented her daughter from taking a second dose of emergency contraception prescribed by a nurse at a clinic as part of a rape examination. The jail nurse, said the mother and the victim's attorney, denied the medication for religious reasons.

[story here.]Gee, I wonder why so many women don't report rape? I also question the implication that money this woman owes from her teen years is more important than a crime committed against her.