Rape Kits

Sexual assault forensic exams, or rape kits, can be used to collect evidence from one’s body, clothes and personal belongings. While they can be powerful tools in delivering justice to survivors, the rape kit backlog—hundreds of thousands of rape kits that sit untested in storage facilities—all too often prevents this from happening. The rape kit backlog is a clear representation of the criminal justice system’s failure to address sexual violence.

Keeping Score: Women Stockpile Plan B Post-Election; Feminists React to Trump’s Cabinet Picks; Harriet Tubman Finally Recognized for Military Service

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: Women stockpile emergency contraception and medication abortion after the election; one in five Americans gets news from social media influencers; House Republicans Nancy Mace and Speaker Mike Johnson harass incoming trans Representative Sarah McBride; Michelle Obama explains the double standards Kamala Harris faced; childcare costs more than rent for many families; Trump’s Cabinet picks spread sexist messages; Rep. Erica Lee Carter (D-Texas) became the 95th member of the Democratic Women’s Caucus after winning a special election to replace her late mother Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee; acknowledging Native Women’s Equal Pay Day; Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman was finally recognized for her military service; Trump’s margin over Harris will be about 1.5 points, the fifth-smallest gap since 1900; and more.

Our Abortion Stories: ‘The Justices Who Signed the Dobbs Opinion Do Not Care About 14-Year-Old Me’

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On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding precedents of Roe v. Wade, representing the largest blow to women’s constitutional rights in history. We’re chronicling readers’ experiences of abortion pre- and post-Roe.

“Even a medically safe abortion cannot be truly safe if it is illegal and shrouded in secrecy.”

If Rape is a Crime, Why Can’t the U.S. Tackle the Rape Kit Backlog?

If Rape is a Crime, Why Can't the U.S. Tackle the Rape Kit Backlog?

Michelle Bowdler’s new book “Is Rape a Crime?” investigates why the justice system so often fails to treat rape as a crime.

“The hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits existed because hundreds of thousands of individual victims agreed to submit to an exam consisting of head and pubic hair combing; vaginal, anal, and oral swabbing; retrieval of saliva, blood, and fingernail clippings—evidence taken carefully under the bright light of an emergency room by strangers following a violation that defines vulnerability. The victims endured this examination for a reason; they wanted justice. Instead, their bodies and the evidence taken from them were treated like useless trash.”

“Referring to hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits as a ‘backlog’ of evidence is a misnomer if there was never intent to test them in the first place.”

Bodies on Backlog

After Helena was released, she had a 13-day wait until more evidence turned up—her car, still covered in the dusty outline from where her body was plastered to the hood during her assault. After the police dispatched to handle her case had fulfilled their required duties, Helena waited again, this time for 13 years.

Ending the Rape Kit Backlog: What’s the Price of a Survivor’s Peace of Mind?

A nationwide investigation spearheaded by USA Today has found that at least 70,000 rape kits sit untested in laboratories around the country. While Detroit and other cities have made headlines for their determination to clear rape kit backlogs (in Detroit’s case, only after the Department of Justice found its police department guilty of “negative, victim-blaming beliefs” in 2008) this […]