News Rape Victim Jailed, Denied Emergency Contraception
posted by on January 30 at 13:13 PM
A Florida woman went to the police to report that she’d been raped—and they arrested her.
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.
It gets worse. The woman was denied emergency contraception by a prison nurse. Can you guess why?
Adding to the [mother of the victim’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.
Emergency contraception is most effective in the first two days after unprotected sex—according to Planned Parenthood—and the second dose must be taken within 12 hours of the first.

All praise to the God King Bush and his Holy Warriors who shall rule the peasants of Amerika!
... sigh ...
Absolutely disgusting.
Just imagine how much fun reading the news is going to be when Alito and pals throw out Roe Vs Wade and the coat hanger abortion fatalities start to hit the news. Just wait until the radical right stays home on Election Day and the popular feminist backlash starts.
this is exactly why pay restitution should be legalized.
What does failure to pay restitution mean?
This makes me angry. WTF!?
#3, Just remember how many people voted for Bush which is a vote against abortion. The democrats really should have done the mud slinging both in 2000 and 2004 that a vote for ANY Republican means back alley abortions, and black plastic bags with dead fetuses in them....
You can make it illegal to get an abortion but it will not stop them. It just makes it more dangerous. Hope you Republicans (and those who voted for Nader) are happy!!
Jessica @ 5...
It means she committed a property crime sometime in the past (maybe theft, or a car prowl), the court ordered her to pay restitution to the person whose stuff she stole or damaged, and she didn't pay it.
It is not even abortion, in most cases the egg hasn't even had a chance to latch on. No worse than using the rhythym method. URGH! IDIOTS!
Shouldn't be the first or last time this happens. After all, when I was in jail I had to suffer my injuries without any medication or treatment as well.
While my mistreatment was because police and jail officials decided to teach me a lesson for something that they eventually discovered I didn't do, this poor woman has to suffer because a jail official was able to enforce her religious beliefs on a prisoner.
I have to live with the scars from that abuse of power, I hope this woman doesn't have to live with a baby that was forced upon her by a rapist and the jail.
Payment of restitution is often required in cases of theft. If this woman had a warrant out for her arrest for neglecting to restore what she had the duty to restore, the arrest of her after visiting the nurse was proper.
The issue for concern is the denial by the prison nurse of the second dose of emergency contraception (do we know that this was a two dose treatment and not merely a one dose treatment that the suspect wanted to take twice?). State officials have a responsibility to protect and that nurse and her supervisors need to be investigated for negligence.
(An interesting pro-choice theory says that pregnancy can be considered a form of assault, insofar as it radically alters the pregnant woman's body. Should the nurse be found to have forced pregnancy on the suspect, could she then be accused of assault?)
What the fuck is wrong with the fucking US? Instead of being compassionate to a person who has been brutally violate they her throw in jail? A nurse refuses to do her job because of religious reasons? Is taking emergency contraception illegal? No. So where do these fucking people get off ramming their fucking morality down other people's throats? And where the fuck are all these religious objector medical practitioners (an awkward mouthful, I know) when doctors are mutilating the genitals of newborn babies? That sounds way worse that taking emergency contraception.
What the fuck is wrong with the fucking US?
This happened in Florida. I think that's all the information needed.
One nice thing about global warming is that a Florida might become the new Atlantis. I'd say that's one in the plus column.
I think people are fooling themselves if they think something similar wouldn't happen in the fine state of Washington or anywhere else in the US.
After all, weren't there some very recent publicized problems with King County's treatment of female prisoners?
You stay classy, Florida.
I want to become a nurse/phamacist, then when fat diabetics come to me for medicine I am going to say
"Sorry, your illness is totally preventable. Its against my beliefs to enable fat fucks. My belief says you need to get on treadmill. No insulin for you."
amusing that the actions of a fundie nurse may actually cause an abortion that would be unnecessary if the woman had been given the contraception.
Hopefully someone will provide her of a picture of the fetus after it was aborted to illustrate the message.
Floriduh is a swing state, actually. One that's sinking.
Gasparilla is kind of fun, but floria fuckin sucks.
Gasparilla is kind of fun, but floria fuckin sucks.
11-- It might be true that it was proper to arrest her, but don't they usually forgo arrests for reletively minor things when someone is reporting a crime that they might not otherwise have reported? Maybe its just that the detectives on law and order are written to be more likeable to the viewers, but they usually don't get people in trouble for things like drugs or minor crimes if they have their sights on something more important like getting a rape victim to cooperate and help them catch the rapist. Many rape victims don't report crimes, so it pays to be nice to them when they do.
I guess they may hve been required to arrest her for the outstanding warrant. But it is the nurse in the prison who should be fired, and perhaps arrested for something. That is a gross abuse of power. If I were that girl, I would look into suing her and the prison system.
Why is it that these fundie idiots can pick and choose what medical advancements constitute "playing god"? I just wish they'd all stop taking inoculations and die of measles.
You want to follow the rules of an ancient culture, then do follow 'em RIGHT.
If this story bothers you and you'd like to do something about it immediately, there are protestors this week in front of the Madison and Issaquah Planned Parenthood clinics. PP has come up with an genius way of raising money in these situations... it's called "Pledge A Picket". The more picketers show up, the more money they raise.
Go here for more information or to make a pledge:
https://secure.ga0.org/02/picketer
or, call (206) 328-6816
Juliette,
Your link has your ID embedded in the address. It now shows perhaps more personal info than you would like. An administrator should edit that link to remove the identifying code.
Thanks for the heads up, wl - I'm on it.
fucking a....really florida? i mean REALLY?
Procedure or no....who in their RIGHT MIND would think to jail a rape victim?!
I hope that nurse in Florida realizes that refusing to give that girl contraceptive is a violation of HIPPA law. I work with plenty of hare-core Catholic doctors who perform abortions or refer the patients to someone else. The first rule of being a health-care provider is that a patients health and wishes are more important than imposing your beliefs.
Despite the fact that I don’t remember having to take more than one dose of a morning after pill, I would happily donate towards the termination of her pregnancy if it was due to this circumstance. I’m hoping that she is able to get counseling for this horrible situation. Rape and then being jailed (warranted or not), I can’t even imagine. My heart goes out to her.
This of course is the same city that banned any recognition of gay pride activities (technically the county did it). Tampa makes eastern Washington look progressive.
When I started my rounds at the hospital this week, it was explained to me that we were only allowed to refuse treatment based on religious reasons, if and ONLY IF, there was someone with equal or better qualifications to give the treatment instead. Abandoning a patient was grounds for dismissal. Period. That nurse should have her license revoked!
Three clarifications here:
1) The restitution was for a property crime for a juvenile offense four years ago (when she was 17) in the amount of around $4000.
2) The victim believes she completely paid the amount and is searching for receipts to prove it.
3) The warrant for which she was arrested was never served. The sheriff made one attempt (she wasn't home) and gave up. She had no way to know there was an outstanding warrant against here.
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