Bullshit... Making a medication available to women after rape wont cause a mass craze of false rape claims.

If I pretend to be an opiate addict, I could easily walk into a methodone (sp?) clinic and get a free buzz. Anyone could. But they dont have any problems with non addicts doing so.

Bad reasoning on the senator's part.

That's so gross (but typical) that a politician would say that as a reason to oppose making e.c. available to women who need it urgently. Uggh. Even when I *was* assaulted and *did* ask for EC, I was told by the nurse, "You know that causes abortions, don't you?" Umm, actually, it prevents pregnancy. Not the same thing.
Maybe the senator is just aware of how desperate many women are to have access to birth control and realizes that they are in a tough position when they need e.c. and can't get it.

Well, then, put it on shelves (not behind the counter, not under prescriptions, but with the aspirin and the Tylenol) so that everyone, and not just rape victims, can get it when they need it.

Problem solved.

Man, women are nuts, thinking they don't need to be punished for having sex with pregnancy. What's next? Women voting?

Actually methodone clinics are very strict in how they establish addiction / how strong a person's habit is. Otherwise they could prescribe too much or not enough (still happens unfortunately). There are considerable gov't regulations even though most of them are decidedly for-profit operations.

The stupidity of (many of) our elected leaders sinks to ever-lower depths.

This is truly unbelievable, but so was the Tampa rape victim's arrest as well as the Kansas City pregnant woman's mistreatment (abuse). There are far too many officials who are inappropriately power-endowed, if you ask me. Let's start taking away their weapons and badges.

It's ridiculous that it's going to require a law to assure EC gets delivered to those who need it. Do these doctors and nurses even know what the E in EC stands for?

I'm a libertarian (for reduced government spending, against univeral health care) and even I'm saying that EC needs to be administered every time in these situations when requested. The needs of those who are actually raped far, far, far outweigh the (very likely) chance that someone is faking it for EC.

D'oh! I meant to say very unlikely in that last sentence.

I live in a city with a safe-injection site for IV drug users. This argument reminds me of the one that some politicians and citizens are using here to argue against the site... that it encourages drug use. "Hmm yes, I wasn't going to become a heroin addict before, but NOW that I can go to a safe injection site, why not? While I'm at it, perhaps I'll fake rape to get EC. I would NEVER have done that before, except now I can, so let the debauchery ensue!" Give me a break.

Wow, this just really makes my blood boil. I can't believe how many idiotic and misogynist people have authority to make decisions in this country.

Just about every piece and angle of his statement is insulting, but one thing that really jumped out at me is the implicit assumption that there is something WRONG with trying to get ahold of EC if you HAVEN'T been raped.

This is really a barely thinly veiled display of patriarchal power over women, as is the whole reproductive rights/abortion issue. Why can't more people in this country see that? It makes me want to scream from frustration. I wish I could just grab hold of the west and east coasts and shake some sense into this country!

Ahhh, Dave Schultheis.

I actually met the dickwad back in my Republican campaigning days (hey, I was a naive, idealistic college student growing up in the most conservative non-Bible belt city in the country (hell, it might even beat most of the Bible belt)). Always got a weird vibe from him.

Let's not forget that Colorado Springs Republicans also gave us Captain Creepy himself, Doug Lamborn.

Well, cuz you know those women are all so anxious to wait for hours in an emergency room and file a police report and be poked and prodded and humiliated, then pay a gigantic ER bill when they wants them some EC.
Authoritarian asshats really are as stupid as they seem.

Would this senator feel better if a woman had to wait until her rapist was found guilty before giving her EC? How about antibiotic ointment for her cuts? Or Tylenol for her headache? Or crisis intervention counseling for her mental health? Giving a rape victim EC in the emergency room should be standard procedure.

Sen. David Schultheis is so ridiculous.

I am a recent rape victim. Thankfully they did give me the morning after pill at the hospital.

NO WOMAN WOULD FAKE RAPE FOR THAT PILL!!!

He obviously has no idea what is all involved with calling the police and getting to the hospital and announcing you were raped.

When will women be respected?

True, women NEVER cry rape when it's not true. Oh...wait...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=432637&in_page_id=1770

You're right, buffy. You've managed to find one example, and therefore all the research showing that rape is massively underreported and that its false report rate is no higher than that for any other violent crime is completely invalidated. You win.

I hear that sometimes, workers stretch the hours on their timesheets. I guess that means that nobody should get paid, ever.

No, of course it doesn't. Because in the real world the crazy extremes to which you regularly assign reality "Women NEVER lie abou rape" or that the other side "Woman are ALWAYS lying about rape" are both untrue. Lighten up on the rehtoric. When the guy asks a question about rape fraud, it has happened before, for nefarious reasons, and he doesn't hate all women - like y'all always say about anyone who ever says anything you don't like.

True, women NEVER cry rape when it's not true. Oh...wait...

So... if a few people occasionally take advantage of a system set up to achieve good... we just throw up our hands and scrap the whole system?

If that's not what you're saying, then what ARE you saying? What's your point? People lie about everything under the fucking sun. Why does rape have to be any different in order for us to treat rape victims with the sensitivity and dignity they deserve and so desperately need? And if a few women "slip by" (oh NOES!!!) and get EC... um... so what? As far as I know -- though this may be conjecture -- the sun will not explode and rain down fiery doom on the earth if a non-raped woman gets her hands on Plan B.

People have lied about being burgled, too. Should home insurance companies go out of business, then?

Because in the real world the crazy extremes to which you regularly assign reality "Women NEVER lie abou rape" or that the other side "Woman are ALWAYS lying about rape" are both untrue.

Quote me where someone here has made the claim that women never lie about rape, Buffy. I want a link to the comment.

I'm waiting...

Ew, some of my state's reps are stupid. Thankfully I live in the non-crazy--I mean fundamentalist Christian--part of the state and have a great doctor who was willing to prescribe to me (ah, the bad old days of needing a prescription for EC even if you were an adult!) when I called and asked for it, no questions asked! And thankfully my pharmicists actually filled the prescription without moralizing. And you know what? The sex was totally consensual. Yes, thankfully, I didn't have to fake a rape to get EC.

Really, Colorado's not ALL bad.

Aireanne,

You must live in Boulder or Denver ;)

-- a former Colorado Springs resident

Good, glad you're waiting. let's just use this post. A senator questions what to do to detect if someone is lying about rape. Everyone freaks out including quoting another senator that says :
""I think the suggestion that a person is going to feign being raped in order to get emergency contraception is mildly insulting ... more than mildly."
That pretty much implies that women don't lie about rape. Because if one admitted that they sometimes do - there's no harm in the question.

buffy, what's your point?
I don't see you presenting any kind of argument.

There will always be a small minority of women and men who try to get something for nothing; in any and all situations.

Are you saying that the risk of a very small number of women getting EC without paying for it is...what?

Oh Noes! There are some dishonest people in the world!!!!

Frankly, if woman is willing to go through a rape kit examination if she hasn't been raped, she's gotta be pretty keen on getting EC.

She knows best whether she wants a pregnancy or not.

Buffy, the key phrase in the senator's quote is "in order to get emergency contraception". The quotes from the article and people in this comment are talking about the likelihood of a woman lying about being raped in order to obtain EC. We are saying that it is unlikely (but not impossible) that a woman lie about rape for this reason.

Um...not entirely OT, but am I wrong in thinking that consent is, like, important, and can be withdrawn?

That pretty much implies that women don't lie about rape. Because if one admitted that they sometimes do - there's no harm in the question.

Buffy, did you get a bad grade in logic, or did you simply never take it?

Nothing about calling that "insulting" implies that women never lie. It might arguably imply that women don't always lie. Surely you can't take issue with that?

It's like if I said to you, "Buffy, you always lie on the feministing board." You justifiably object and say "that's insulting and rude." I respond "oh, so now you're claiming you NEVER lie? Nice, Buffy, way to blow things out of proportion!"

Your line of reasoning here is absolutely incomprehensible.

Buffy -

Situation is this: the problem with the Senator's question is twofold:

1) The fact that he asked it reveals that he wants to restrict access to EC, which he shouldn't have the right to do. It's OTC medication.

2) His question proceeds from the *default assumption* that women as a group lack integrity to the point that they will lie lightly about something as important as rape. This, of course, will absolutely infuriate anyone at a feminist site, because "the slut is lying" is such a common defense employed by rapists.

So here you come, providing an example of one of the very rare cases where someone *did* lie about being raped, apparently (actually?) supporting the Senator's contention that women - particularly women who claim to have been raped - are liars.

There is no scenario in which this ends well for you. You will be attacked every time you post, and you will convince no one of anything. I recommend that you quit while you're ahead - this is the sort of thing that could make you persona non grata around here permanently.

Suggesting a woman would lie about being raped just to get free EC makes about as much sense as suggesting a person would throw themself in front of a bus in just to get free Tylenol.
Only someone profoundly stupid would do either of these things, because it's illogical to the point of ridiculous. That's why the statement (and the assumption behind it: 'women are emotional, illogical, and irrational) by our Senator friend here is being called out as sexist and offensive. Because it is.

But it sure is refreshing to know what he really thinks of women, isn't it? Wonder if he's been relatively successful in hiding it in the past.

Cheers,

TH