The following lengthy article is posted in full at palintruth.org. I see Palin's (and McCain's) failure to support paying for rape kits as the point of the sword for separating them both from the majority of women voters, so I wanted to compile something that discussed that issue in the larger picture of how both of them have treated women's issues throughout their careers. Even if you already know most of what's in this and just skim it, if you think the information is valuable please rec this up and send people to the site if they are uninformed. More at the end.
Claim:
Naming Sarah Palin as his running mate shows that McCain is sensitive to women's issues
Truth:
John McCain has a record of often voting against funding to help abused women or rape victims
While Sarah Palin was Mayor of Wassila, AK, the city charged rape victims for testing that would help catch their assailants
As Governor, Sarah Palin vetoed funding for shelters for single teenage mothers
Though it would be unfair to say that John McCain does not care about women's issues, he has a record of voting against providing government funding for women's programs, as well as voting against federal requirements for equal pay, equal rights, or even guarantees of proper law enforcement for rape victims.
In 1994, Joe Biden authored the "Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994." The main purpose of the bill was to provide federal funding to help local governments get more police on the streets--100,000 more nationwide. Among other things, though, this bill also mandated that any local government which received these funds must agree to cover the full cost of "rape kits" for victims. These kits allow for the collection of evidence not only to prove that the woman was sexually assaulted, but also to obtain DNA evidence which could be used to prove the identity of her assailant.
(1) IN GENERAL- A State, Indian tribal government, or unit of local government, shall not be entitled to funds under this part unless the State, Indian tribal government, unit of local government, or another governmental entity incurs the full out-of-pocket cost of forensic medical exams described in subsection (b) for victims of sexual assault.
Read the entire bill - H.R.3355: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
To become a law, a bill must pass both the House and Senate with identical wording. Usually, each house will pass what they think is the "best" version of a bill, and if those bills pass both houses, a compromise committee will then take the two similar bills and work out a single "compromise" version which then returns to each house for final approval. When this bill was first introduced, John McCain voted for it (thus, he could later campaign claiming he voted for it), but when it came time for final approval, McCain switched positions and voted against it. Luckily for women across the country, McCain was in the minority on that vote and the bill became law when President Clinton signed it.
The record of the final vote on that bill
Alaska was the last state in the US to reach compliance with that law, some six years later in 2000. Notably, the entire state had already been complying with the law, except for one city--Wasilla, under Mayor Sarah Palin. After Palin took office as Mayor in 1996, she fired police chief Irl Stambaugh apparently because he angered some of her biggest campaign contributors. The man she appointed to the job--Charlie Fannon--did not believe that the city should cover the cost of providing rape kits to victims. That's right--he believed that rape victims should be charged for the service of the police. If they couldn't afford to pay, they might as well not report the crime, since they wouldn't be able to prove it in court, and Palin supported Fannon in this policy, even when then-Governor Tony Knowles urged Wasilla to comply with the federal regulations. To force Wassila into compliance, Alaska passed its own state law in 2000 that required all city governments to cover the costs.
While the Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies have covered the cost of exams, which cost between $300 to $1,200 apiece, the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests.
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.
Wassila Frontiersman, May 22, 2000 - Knowles signs sexual assault bill
If on her watch Sarah Palin allowed women to be charged for rape kits, she has some serious explaining to do.
US News & World Report - Sarah Palin and the Rape Kit Question
8 years ago, complaints about charging rape victims for medical exams in Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill -- signed into law by Knowles -- that banned the practice statewide.
"There was one town in Alaska that was charging victims for this, and that was Wasilla," Knowles said.
McClatchy - Critics: Under Palin, Wasilla charged rape victims for exam
Though she now expresses support for her own (currently) unwed, 17-year-old, pregnant daughter, just months ago (after daughter Bristol was already pregnant), Governor Palin cut over $1 million in funding for an Alaska program that--among other services--provides a home for teenage mothers. It would seem that she supports her own daughter, but anyone else's daughter is on their own.
After the legislature passed a spending bill in April, Palin went through the measure reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Inking her initials on the legislation -- "SP" -- Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House is a mix of programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers.
According to Passage House's web site, its purpose is to provide "young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives" and help teen moms "become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families."
Washington Post - Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms
John McCain also has a long record of voting against funding many other programs to promote women's rights and women's health. Here are just a few examples:
McCain voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would have given workers more chance to recoup losses if they discovered their employers had been unfairly discriminating against them in their wages.
McCain’s special It’s Time for Action Tour was in the impoverished Kentucky town of Inez on Wednesday, so he was unable to make it to Washington to vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This is the bill that would restore workers’ ability to go to court in cases of pay discrimination.
[...]
McCain made it clear that if he had been in Washington, he would have voted no because the bill “opens us up for lawsuits, for all kinds of problems and difficulties.”
How much straighter can talk get? True, this is pretty much like saying that you’re voting against the federal budget because it involves spending. Still, there is no denying that a bill making it possible for people who have been discriminated against to go to court for redress would open somebody up to the possibility of a lawsuit.
Lilly Ledbetter was a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Ala., for almost 20 years — the only woman who ever managed to stick it out in what was not exactly a female-friendly environment. When she was near retirement, she got an anonymous letter listing the salaries of the men who held the same job. While she was making $3,727 a month, the lowest paid man, with far less seniority, was getting $4,286.
New York Times - McCain’s Compassion Tour
McCain also voted against an amedment that would have allocated $100 million to expand services that would help reduce the number of unintended and teenage pegnancies--which would also reduce the number of abortions. There are numerous other examples where McCain has voted against the interests of the nation's women. These are just a few examples--follow the link below for more.
McCain opposed allocating $100 million to prevent unintended and teen pregnancies. In 2005, McCain voted NO to allocate $100 million to “expand access to preventive health care services that reduce unintended pregnancy (including teen pregnancy), reduce the number of abortions, and improve access to women's health care.” Funding could be used for programs such as family planning services, teenage pregnancy prevention programs, and public education about emergency contraception. [Appropriation to expand access to preventive health care services; Senate Amendment 244 to S Con Res 18 ; vote number 2005-75, 3/17/05]
McCain opposed legislation to provide funding for comprehensive and medically accurate sex education, including teaching about abstinence. McCain voted NO on legislation that would help reduce the number of teen pregnancies by providing funding for programs to teach comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education and other programs to prevent unintended teen pregnancies. [Lautenberg/Menendez Teen Pregnancy Prevention Amendment, S.Amdt. 4689 to S. 403, vote 214, 7/25/06]
McCain opposed legislation requiring abstinence-only programs be medically accurate and scientifically based. McCain voted NO on legislation that would help reduce the number of teen pregnancies by requiring that abstinence-only programs be medically accurate and scientifically based and providing funding for programs to teach comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education and other programs to prevent unintended teen pregnancies. [Lautenberg/Menendez Teen Pregnancy Prevention Amendment, S.Amdt. 4689 to S. 403, vote 214, 7/25/06]
McCain opposed Title X family planning program. In 1990, McCain voted NO on legislation to extend the Title X federal family planning program, which provides low-income and uninsured women and families with health care services ranging from breast and cervical cancer screening to birth control. [Motion to Invoke Cloture; Family Planning Amendments of 1989, S.110, 9/26/90]
Planned Parenthood - More of the Same: McCain, Like Bush, Opposes Preventative Health Services for Women
Notes on this article and palintruth.org
First, I want to express just how thankful I am to everyone who has encouraged me to keep working on this site, everyone who has suggested information or ways to make the site look better, and the (so far) one other person (MaximusNYC) who has contributed writing directly. Also big thanks to everyone who has helped by sending other people to the site, or by putting links on their own blogs or other sites. I don't have any money to advertise the site (I have to run the google ads to pay for part of the extra traffic the site is bringing to my server as it is), so word of mouth is the only way it's going to get around, and I appreciate it.
I have also added two other new articles and some other features to the site. As always, if anyone has suggestions for facts that can be added to help this article, or if anyone catches an error, I would love the help. Being your own editor/proofreader/fact checker can be hard when you're trying to keep up with people who lie this fast. I just launched this site a week ago as of this morning, and I'm happy with how much I've been able to put up in a week, but I'm still going to keep asking for links/suggestions because they really are lying faster than one person can keep up with it.
I have added social bookmarking features to palintruth.org, so please, follow the link to this article on the site and digg it, spread the word on myspace or facebook, or anything else you want.
Other new articles I added last night:
John McCain's Memory
A discussion of John McCain's tendency to deny having said things that he is on the record as having said, including links to videos that graphically demonstrate this tendency. I have to admit this probably only scratches the surface, so any suggestions for expanding it would be welcomed.
"Obama's" Sex Education Bill
A summary of the misstated facts and slurs in the latest McCain anti-Obama ad.