AlterNet: Raped in the Military? You'll Have to Pay for Your Own Forensic Exam Kit

[marmar]

Raped in the Military? You'll Have to Pay for Your Own Forensic Exam Kit

By Penny Coleman, AlterNet. Posted November 11, 2008.

This outrage gives "supporting the troops" a whole new meaning.



Sarah Palin's decision not to pay for rape kits when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, was an issue in the campaign for the White House. But allow me to introduce the large pink elephant that has been sitting quietly in the corner of the room: TRICARE, the Pentagon's Military Health System that covers active duty members, doesn't pay for rape kits, either.

Spec. Patricia McCann, who served in Iraq with the Illinois Army National Guard from 2003 to 2004, raised the issue at the Winter Soldier Investigation in March. McCann read a memo issued to all MEDCOM commanders clarifying that "SAD kits" -- which are forensic rape kits -- "are not included in TRICARE coverage." *

That would put Alaska and the military in a very special category.

Women in the military are twice as likely to be raped as their civilian counterparts. In fact, "women serving in the U.S. military today are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq," Congresswoman Jane Harman, D-Calif., told the House Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs in May.

Harman said, "The scope of the problem was brought into acute focus for me during a visit to the West Los Angeles VA Health Center where I met female veterans and their doctors. My jaw dropped when the doctors told me that 41 percent of the female veterans seen there say they were victims of sexual assault while serving in the military, and 29 percent said they were raped during their military service." .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/106307/raped_in_the_military_you%27ll_have_to_pay_for_your_own_forensic_exam_kit/

[Karenina]

1. . .

[Doctor_J]

2. Just another reason why Barbie would make a great CINC

:eyes:

[Stargazer09]

3. That's just disgusting

As a female veteran, I am not surprised by the incidence of rape in the military. I haven't seen it personally, since I'm a traditional reservist who hasn't deployed to a war zone, but I can certainly see how the stresses involved with deployment could lead to bad situations.

I am definitely not surprised that Tricare doesn't cover rape kits. Too often, they don't even pay for the things that they do cover.