Under Palin, Wasilla Charged Rape Victims for Evidence Kits

By Rogers Cadenhead

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 05:31 PM

During the first four years that Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, the town's police department charged women who had been raped with the cost of "rape kits," the $300 to $1,200 exams necessary to collect evidence of the sex assault.

A May 20, 2000, article in The Frontiersman, Wasilla's hometown newspaper, provides the details:

Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon does not agree with the new legislation, saying the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to cover the costs of the forensic exams.

In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victim's insurance company when possible. I just don't want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer, Fannon said.

According to Fannon, the new law will cost the Wasilla Police Department approximately $5,000 to $14,000 a year to collect evidence for sexual assault cases.

Ultimately it is the criminal who should bear the burden of the added costs, Fannon said.

The policy was changed by an Alaskan state law that was written specifically to prevent Wasilla from continuing to charge women for the evidence necessary to prosecute their attackers, according to the bill's author Eric Croft (D-Anchorage).

Since 1976, Alaska has ranked every year in the top five for rapes, with a rate currently 2.2 times the national average, according to the state's Health and Social Services department.

In a 2006 gubernatorial debate, Palin said that she opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

The candidates were pressed on their stances on abortion and were even asked what they would do if their own daughters were raped and became pregnant.

Palin said she would support abortion only if the mother's life was in danger. When it came to her daughter, she said, "I would choose life."