FACT: Unfortunately, the practice of billing a rape survivor's medical insurance for the cost of a forensic examination following a rape was very common in the United States. Wasilla, Alaska was one of thousands of municipalities across the US that -- at one time -- enforced that policy.
Yet liberal bloggers wasted no time ('Life begins at RAPE'? WTF ??) pouncing on Sarah Palin and blaming her exclusively for the city of Wasilla enacting the policy, even to the point of claiming that only Wasilla passed these charges directly on to the victims. The mainstream press also ran with the rumor -- it was reported in the New York Times as late as Sept. 26, 2008.
The PolitiFact blog of the St. Petersburg Times investigated the story thoroughly and discovered the following information:
- The policy was a non-issue during Palin's tenure as mayor of Wasilla, 1996 - 2002. In fact, it was enacted BEFORE Palin became mayor. According to local sources, it was never discussed by anyone during city council meetings or during elections.
- The Wasilla police department billed the victim's medical insurance, not the victim. Although the possibility of out-of-pocket expense did exist, women's rights advocates in Wasilla couldn't recall a single incident during Palin's tenure where anyone was forced to pay anything.
- The Police Chief of Wasilla, Charlie Fannon, supported the policy at the time, stating that he was concerned about placing increased financial burdens on the city's taxpayers.
- The issue actually became moot, since the state of Alaska enacted a law in 2000 that requires law enforcement agencies to cover the cost of forensic rape exams. The City of Wasilla was never mentioned during legislative committee discussion of the bill.
This smear has also been directed at John McCain, since McCain voted against the Senate versions of HR 3355 (1994) and HR 3093 (2007). Even though both bills included provisions for federal government funding of forensic rape kits, they were omnibus spending bills, each with dozens of line items for consideration. No one has been able to show that McCain voted "no" specifically because of the forensic rape funding.
One could possibly argue that Palin "failed the women of Wasilla" by not suspending the policy, but attempting to solely blame Palin for its existence and enforcement is nothing short of deceitful.
...
