11. Hospitals Are Billing Rape Victims Thousands of Dollars for Exams

This article begins by talking about the Violence Against Women Act amended on 2005 that guaranteed free medical forensic exams for victims of sexual assault that go to the hospital. These exams were known as the SANE exams or rape kits, and were necessary for professionals to collect evidence of the crime. In Louisiana however, rape victims were returning from the ER with medical bills that totaled more than a thousand dollars. This was not only due to the hospital's failures to follow the law but also because of the limitations of the VAWA. The article explains that rape kit doesn't cover tests for pregnancy and STI's, emergency contraception, post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV, or treatment for injuries that happened during the attack. A victim for Louisiana even said that they even charged just for the ER visit and she paid a $600 bill to cover her HIV drugs and another $860 for the ER visit. They also offer reimbursement, but the victims have to file a police report and they can't have committed any felonies in the past five years, "acted" in any way that might have contributed to the rape and can't be involved in any illegal activity during the crime. The article explains how the government should be paying for the examination of the victims, because having victims speak up is already a problem and they shouldn't have to be "traumatized twice."
The author of this article, Amanda Hess, is pretty straightforward in this article. She begins by stating the VAWA and then goes on to describe how the rules have not been followed and how limited this law is. She gives various examples of how the act is limited and has evidence and sources for her examples, which makes her article and example credible. Amanda uses a higher, more professional vocabulary in this article, including medical terms, and more complex sentences, meaning that this article is for an older audience. She also includes how she thinks the VAWA could be made better and includes how 'local lawmakers have been spurred.' She ends the article with a quote from the state representative, Helena Moreno.