Army of One

In the wake of all this anti-woman sentiment that’s been blowing around the last few years, the public has started to take notice of the plight of enlisted women in the armed forces. Entrenched in a nearly all-male environment, women have been victims of discrimination and violence since they were first allowed to serve during WWII. Women have not been allowed to fight in combat with men; they do not receive coverage for abortion under military health plans, nor can they receive abortion services in military health facilities. Most egregiously, they are frequent targets of sexual  violence by officers and fellow enlistees. I take that back; the worst part of all is that complaints of sexual violence are rarely taken seriously, assuming a complaint is made in the first place. Most cases go unreported, for fear of retaliation or punishment. 

That’s right. In the US Armed Forces, you can be punished for being raped. It sounds like something that might happen somewhere far away, like the woman from Morocco who killed herself after being forced to marry her rapist. But nope. This is happening right here at home. It would surprise me, but little does these days. 

I first learned about this phenomenon a few years ago watching The Coathanger Project, in which a former soldier told her story of being dishonorably discharged for having sex and then attempting an abortion. More recently, I watched The Invisible War, a documentary about women enlistees (and some men) who were raped, even drugged and beaten, and received no help from those in charge. They were slut-shamed, victim-blamed, or plain told to suck it up. When a group of victims brought a lawsuit against the military for mistreatment of them and their cases, it was dismissed on the grounds that sexual assault is an occupational hazard of being enlisted. 

Gag me with a spoon. 

If you haven’t seen the film, DO. I can’t remember the last time  I was so angry, so if you’re interested in draining yourself emotionally it’ll do the trick. One issue that wasn’t addressed in the film was the what happened to those who became pregnant as a result of rape (which can happen!). As we know, you can’t get an abortion with military funds or in military facilities, so I’m sure those people have quite interesting (and horrific) stories to tell. But I suppose that would become a six hour movie. 

You know, I’ve gotten lots of flack in my life for not loving my country as I should. For threatening to move to Canada if Bush was elected. For not buying that the military has anything to do with protecting my freedom. For hating American flag  and “Support our Troops” bumper stickers. For questioning why our defense budget is out of this world but we can't feed the poor. For not identifying as a patriot, because being a patriot these days apparently means toting a gun, driving a big car, and popping off firecrackers in a South Carolina rest stop in a "USMC" t-shirt. But the reason I don't love my country as I should is because, call me crazy, I believe in an America where women are treated as equals. Where they can fight alongside their brothers without fear of incest. Where they can love their country so much that they'll die for it without feeling unsafe around the people who supposedly keep us safe. Support our troops? Not as long as they're raping our other troops.

 Look, I have lots of thoughts on this, but sadly I don't really know what I can do except stand together with victims and support reform in the military. I think some minor changes are happening (better moves than these god-awful posters, and these, and these), but I'm pessimistic that nothing will change on a large scale until misogynistic looneys are six feet under. I guess I just want to raise awareness, and give readers the opportunity to learn and pass on their learnings to others. Talk about it, make sure that people understand why this is such a problem. And pray not only for our troops, but for the sad, angry place this country has become in hopes of REAL security and freedom. 

What does Penn State have to do with abortion?

I was outraged after reading about Penn State and how so many people allowed the continued sexual abuse/rape/assault to happen. When I first read the news I had just come off of a 2 week jury duty stint for an attempted rape and sexual abuse case...needless to say rape and sexual abuse and violence have been on my brain. Although, I would argue that our country has a ubiquitous rape culture so I never really get a break from my exposure to these horrific things. I'm not naive, as some of my fellow jurors were, to think that rape doesn't happen "here" or among "these types of people".

So after my first few readings of various media posts about the Penn State "scandal" I shot out an email to my fellow abortioneers. I knew they would get "it" and understand why I was seething. I immediately asked, "what does this have to do with abortion"? So, what DOES it have to do with abortion? PLENTY, as my fellow abortioneers showed me. We live in a place where "life" is valued until birth. Where we spend millions of dollars fighting for the rights of a zygote, but once that child is born we abuse it, ignore it, and forget about it. It is such an obvious connection that it is INFURIATING.

What other connections do you see? How has this news impacted you?

Oh, and reading this made me simultaneously soo soo happy and soo soo sad. I was so proud of this guy that I sent him some love on facebook...just to let him know I was thinking of him...you can too, click here!

Another FAQ: "Why did she wait so long?"

Yes, it's a frequently-asked question, and I kinda hate it. Like she "waited" around until her schedule cleared up or something. If a woman finally makes it to an appointment at 18 weeks, it's safe to assume she wasn't "waiting," she was being delayed. 

This came up for me yet again last month when Frances Kissling, who formerly led Catholics for Choice, controversially questioned whether we really know anything at all about why some women have later procedures.* To make a long story short, Kissling said we don't know how many abortions are done because of fetal anomaly,** said that "there is no evidence regarding shame over sexual abuse leading to pregnancy denial, indecision etc as a major factor," and asked "Do we really think women who do not have the money for a first trimester abortion find the larger amount needed for a later procedure in any significant numbers?"

Apparently, even people (like Kissling) who have experience providing abortion care and emergency abortion funding for second-trimester patients may feel this way. But that baffles me, honestly. Because I have those experiences too, and I've spent so many days/weeks/months, yes months, working with the same women who are still trying to obtain treatment for the same pregnancy, and heard all of the trials and tribulations along the way. How could someone who's done this still feel they "don't know" why women "wait until" the second trimester, while I feel I know it all too well?

Here is your frequently-given answer:

Women DO suffer, sometimes terribly, from shame and denial -- young women especially. They don't tell their parents, who might beat them, throw them out of the house, or simply 'be disappointed' about either consensual sex or rape (outrageous but not uncommon) or the pregnancy itself; imagine how much more complicated and traumatic when abuse by a trusted relative or family friend is involved. Will they even believe her? How can she bring herself to speak up?

Then there's the surprising number of women who simply don't realize for a few months that they're pregnant: they have urgent things on their mind, like keeping their children clothed and fed, where outgrowing their shoes can be an unaffordable problem, and maybe to scrounge up some shoe-money they'll forgo lunches at work, so feeling tired and slightly sick all the time is nothing new; you get the picture. Or they keep getting their "period" (actually implantation bleeding, 1/3 of women have it through the first trimester) or are in some other way among the "lucky" women who barely have any symptoms.

And yes, HELL yes, women do spend months getting the money together. In my area, most of the quality providers charge around $500 for a first-trimester abortion; some places are able to discount $100-150 with proof of Medicaid. This is low compared to most out-of-pocket medical costs, and has barely kept up with inflation since 1973, but of course if you're on Medicaid you probably don't have $350 in your pocket. Sure it doesn't "make sense" to try to get $2700 instead of $350, as Kissling says, but the logical conclusion of that view is If they can't get the $350 right away, why are they bothering at all? Yet we know women are much more determined to decide their pregnancy outcomes than that. Plus, when I work on funding, a lot of the second-trimester patients I talk to got their price information when they first called a clinic in the first trimester, and had a terrible shock when they called back several weeks later and the price was higher.

Then, if they are lucky enough to find out about emergency funds, which many clinics don't even know about (!), they will still be disappointed to learn that the fund can't always pay everything they are missing. "Can you pawn your TV, get a predatory payday loan or a loan for your car title, can you borrow ten dollars from everyone you know, can you find five houses to clean after work this week?" (It sucks to talk about these options -- even more so if they've already been checked off.) They painstakingly set that money aside. Then, maybe, a drug-addicted relative steals it from them. (Yes, really.) They're back at square one. Or they have to help their family move before the eviction date and the delay takes them from week 12 to week 13, and they've moved to another neighborhood/town and have to find a new clinic with a new price, or a ride to the old clinic. And so on.

The funny thing is that when I mentioned all of this in a comment on Kissling's article, I felt shy and embarrassed, because someone with her experience has surely heard it all before! But why do the detailed memories come back to me so readily whenever this subject comes up, and not to her? These stories and examples are not statistical evidence (which might be what she was calling for without naming it as such), but they are not nearly rare, either. I've heard them for years -- sometimes alldayeveryday -- but never lost my trust in women and girls' good-faith efforts to TCB as efficiently as they were able, or implied that their own words about "why" the delay (not that I was owed an explanation at all) were not reliable enough.

The entire post I just wrote is only a small handful of common examples, in a health care context where abortion is mostly privately provided and privately paid for. There's no one Major Reason (or 3 or 5) explaining the course of all women's pregnancies up til their appointments. To sum it up in different words: the British Pregnancy Advisory Service reviewed a full month's worth of requests for abortion past 22 weeks in the UK. The article where I read about this, A Moral Defence of Late Abortion, is fantastic in itself, but if you want to get to the details of the audit, scroll down. There you go: your frequently-given answer, woman by woman.

Prolixly yours,
Placenta Sandwich

PS: I don't hold it personally against Kissling. I still like other things she's written. Like this article, for example, that I think everyone supporting abortion rights ought to take to heart this new year - Twelve Things You Can Do To Help Increase Abortion Access.***


*The main point of Kissling's article was to address the calls for "honesty" from pro- and anti-choice camps alike; she stated she isn't comfortable with some pro-choice advocates' rhetoric, like typical characterizations of "reasons" for the 10% of abortions that occur beyond the first trimester. By way of example, she quoted Catherine Epstein writing that major reasons for the vaguely-defined "late abortion" include fetal anomaly, shame or denial following sexual abuse, and the struggle to get enough money for the abortion. 
**What we know about abortions sought because of fetal anomaly is that they represent less than 1% of ALL abortions, but probably much more of what are vaguely referred to as "late abortions" (I'll try to find exact percentages, but the reporting is not uniform across states). Between Epstein's and Kissling's articles, the distinction between "second trimester" abortions (after 12 weeks) and "late abortions" (after 20 or 21 or 22 weeks, depending who you ask, when fetal anomalies are more often detected) became blurred in the arguments. 
***Even though, as the National Network of Abortion Funds pointed out, many clinics and doctors DO already forgo payment to provide urgently-needed abortions. I had to go and be argumentative, didn't I? 

"Why don't you..."

Ensure women are confident in the decisions they make about their problem pregnancies
Help women leave their abusive partners so they can have that baby
Combat domestic violence
Provide women with contraceptive services to avoid unplanned pregnancies
Find a job developing more effective forms of contraception
Prevent rape and sexual violence - so that "the innocent ones" don't have to have abortions, natch
Find counseling for assault victims
Throw them baby showers so they'll have "all the supplies they need"
Offer to adopt her children so she'll have time and energy for one more
Buy her kids the damn Christmas presents so she won't have to have the abortion (What?? Please work on distinguishing between a problem and its symptom, OK?)
Help her with the cost of a new baby
Pay their utility bills
Help them find safe cheap childcare...

*

Dear devoted denialist antis, regular know-it-alls, and well-meaning strangers/friends/family/bloggers who just think abortion "shouldn't be used so thoughtlessly": 


Thank you for your suggestions. We regretfully see that you consider yourselves geniuses for having hit on the one magic solution that no one has tried.


In order to keep this letter brief, I leave to your own heroic efforts the task of identifying which of these things we ALREADY DO that you just assumed we don't do, which of them we would NEVER DO because you are not adequately informed to dream up effective strategies ("tell her to Just Leave him!"), and which ones we would LOVE to do but lack the resources and/or magical patriarchy-busting power to do.


In fact the purpose of our reply is simply to ask you a question, since you brought it up.


Why don't you?


No, seriously. Why don't you do those things? Answer me, each of you, about your individual practices. And society-at-large, you answer me too. And when you've all answered why YOU don't do these things, I'll understand you a little better, and then one day maybe we can "discuss reasonable solutions" as you have proposed but are currently unprepared for.


We regret that we will not be working with you at this time but encourage you to submit future proposals that meet the minimum thoughtfulness standards.


Good luck,


Placenta Sandwich
VP of Irritated Blogging
The Abortioneers

Every Woman Has a Story

I work almost every day with women who are trying to get an abortion. Many of my conversations are brief and to the point. I get them what they need, and they’re on their way. I have so many people to talk to in a day. Sometimes they seem to blend in, lost their job, getting evicted, on food stamps. They seem the same, woman after woman, but they are all individual women with their own stories.

Today I spoke to a woman in Illinois. She’s 18 trying to go to school, while working at K-mart and helping her grandma with the bills. When she found out she was pregnant, she started working on getting the money together. She even got help from the man involved, her boyfriend. Unfortunately, neither of them have much money, so she had to do the infamous price chase. She is now well into her second trimester, and the clinic doesn’t have its own anesthesiologist, so she has to wait next week when they can get one in. Even with funding help, she hasn’t gotten all the money together. We talked about her fundraising options. She has already taken out two loans – one for school and one to help her grandma pay bills, she has no other family to get help from, her boyfriend gave her all the money he had, and she already put up the title to her car to help out someone else.

For the past couple of days I have been speaking to a woman, whose story started out pretty simple, pretty ordinary. She was about 7 or 8 weeks by her last menstrual period. She had her appointment, had all her money together. She was all set. Except there’s something else. She was pregnant by an abusive man. The abuse got so bad that she had to leave. She packed a bag, got on a plane, and went to the only safe place she knows. This made her miss the appointment she had and caused her to spend the money she set aside for her abortion on a plane ticket. Now she’s in an unfamiliar city, with no job, no money, and she’s still pregnant. She’s now about 13 weeks. She needs to get seen because now her price will only continue to go up. She now has to rely on the people she is now staying with to get her to the clinic and help her pay for the abortion.

Both of these women and so many others are depending on people they know and small abortion funds to be able to get access to reproductive health care. This is a shout out to abortion funds, and if you don’t already, please consider donating to a local abortion fund in your area or a fund like this one – The Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project. They are a national fund, helping women all over the country, and work directly with clinics to help fund women in need. Times are tough for everyone, you, these low-income women, and these small abortion funds. Really any assistance you could give would be appreciated.

Ohio state Rep.: You poke it, you bought it

Hey, remember Highlights for Kids -- the magazine in the dentist's office that had the short stories and games in it? Well, sometimes I miss it, so here's a fun exercise: Can you find all the ways in which this attempt at legislation BLOWS? Draw a circle around each instance of misogyny. Draw an "X" through anything whose consequences are not well thought-out. Cut out any parts which seem just plain ignorant, and smear boogers on them. The dental hygienist will see you now!

A bill was introduced by a western Ohio lawmaker last week that would create a requirement to obtain paternal consent before an abortion may be performed in the state of Ohio.

That's PATERNAL, as in the "father" of the embryo or fetus. This country already has a few dozen "parental consent" laws, in which a pregnant minor must get her parent's (or parents') permission for an abortion (see Sparky's latest post), but laws requiring an adult woman to get permission for reproductive decisions have already been struck down as unconstitutional.

Well, encouraging communication about reproductive decisions, that's all well and good, but you can't enforce something like that...Can you?

[House Bill 252] would state that no person should induce or perform an abortion on a pregnant woman without the written informed consent of the fetus' father.

Providing a false biological father would be a first-degree misdemeanor the first time, which means not more than six months and jail, and a maximum $1,000 fine," [Rep. John Adams, R-Sidney, who introduced the bill] said. "And on the second occasion, providing false information would be considered a fifth-degree felony."
...
When asked what a woman wanting an abortion would do if she could not locate the father, or if she did not know who the father was, if the bill were to become law, Adams said, "She would then not be able to have an abortion."

...Oh.

Actually, Rep. John Adams of Sidney, Ohio, has experience with these things. He introduced an almost-identical bill back in 2007! At that time, he was also saying that a woman seeking an abortion would have to provide "a list of possible fathers" who would be DNA-tested for a match. Sadly, at the time he didn't realize that you cannot do DNA testing of a pregnancy before the tenth week of pregnancy at the very earliest (via chorionic villus sampling at 10-12 weeks, or via amniocentesis at 15-20 weeks), that over sixty percent of abortions take place in the first eight weeks of pregnancy (and another thirty percent between eight and twelve weeks), and that CVS and amniocentesis carry a risk of miscarriage (around 1%) and are actually discouraged unless the potential benefits outweigh that risk.

But I guess someone pointed out to Rep. John Adams of Sidney, Ohio, that making a woman who is 7 weeks pregnant wait three more weeks for a CVS -- or making a woman who is 13 weeks pregnant wait until she is 15 weeks for an amniocentesis! -- when everyone knows that the earlier an abortion is performed, the simpler a procedure it is and the shorter the recovery time, might seem counterproductive or perhaps cruel or maybe even like meddling in her medical care. Or maybe someone pointed out that the state would have to contact any number of men for genetic samples -- if one resisted, would the state have to subpoena him? -- and since men are whole human beings with rights and dignity, it would be unacceptable to routinely invade their privacy in such a way. In any case, Rep. John Adams of Sidney, Ohio, seems to have dropped the paternity-test idea for now, and admits the state might in practice have no other option but to actually take women at their word.

But at least the bill's sponsor is mostly honest about his intent:

"There needs to be responsibility for actions," Adams said. "As someone who is pro-life, this is also an attempt and a hope to keep the two people who have created that child together, and I suppose if you just go back to the simple beginning, there is merit to chastity, and to young men and women waiting until marriage."

Adams added that he simply does not believe abortion is an "avenue that we should pursue, and abortions should be rare," and he said HB 252 is one attempt to make sure they occur less frequently.

Adams said he would like to see HB 252 move through the legislature, and "at least open up the debate to keep young people together."

-Wanting to punish sexuality, because it's not fair for young people to have sex before marriage now that I am old: Check!
-Blatantly assuming that men are not up to the charge of respecting their partners' bodily autonomy, and are only "allowing" abortions to take place because current law says it's not their uterus, and that's why this bill is going to help stop abortions: Check!
-Preferring a miserable couple to an unpossessed woman as a matter of policy: Check!

What Rep. John Adams of Sidney, Ohio, is in fact trying to do is transfer legal ownership of the poked uterus from the pokee to the poker. Once I fuck someone, she is my personal babymaking oven, and it makes no sense for an oven to suddenly grow legs and walk itself to the abortion clinic, now does it? Really, I will always find it hilarious that when a woman's ovum and a man's spermatozoon, and the woman's uterus and the woman's blood and the woman's food and the woman's oxygen, come together to create a zygote>embryo>fetus, the man wants a 50% share (or more!) in all related decision-making. That's not how it works, buddy. You get out of it what you put in, and if all you put in was your penis then it sounds to me like you're trying to have your cake and eat it too. Oh god, mixed metaphors, ice-cream headache.

On a more serious note, check out the concerned representative of the people, defender of the little guy, standing alongside Rep. John Adams:

Rep. Seth Morgan, R-Huber Heights, a co-sponsor of HB 252, said there are a "good number of fathers" who are left out of the decision-making process that leads to abortion. "I have heard a good number of horror stories when the father is left out of the process," Morgan said.

You want horror stories, Rep. Seth Morgan of Huber Heights? I'll give you a good number of fucking horror stories. Here's one from a friend of mine: "This reminds me of a woman [from Ohio, coincidentally] I talked to, who was going to have her abortion here, but she was in a domestic violence situation and it got really bad, so she finally packed a bag and took off and ended up with her cousin in Massachusetts. So she missed her appointment. Like these fucking assholes, who abuse women to the point where they have to run away, should make them have their kids." Should that woman have to go back to her abuser to ask his permission for an abortion?

And recently I worked with a woman in a very similar situation, except this one was in limbo between Florida and Virginia -- her court date for a divorce from her abusive husband was in one state, and the safe haven of her mother's house was in another. She already had two children as a result of his sexual abuse, and she was desperate to have an abortion before he found out about the third pregnancy. Every woman is singular and unique, but these stories are all too common and familiar. There was also the woman whose boyfriend held her prisoner, I'm not even joking, in their home when he realized she was pregnant. Should he have a say in her decision about starting a family with him?

And then there are the women, even girls, whose partners regularly try to sabotage their efforts at contraception: 26% of a small Boston survey, 51% of a large Chicago survey (PDF link). And there's the woman I counseled who was seeking an abortion because her partner was injuring her in the belly and had already caused one of her twin fetuses to miscarry. The truth is, by and large, decent men already are privy to their partners' reproductive decision-making processes, and I'll say on the record that as long as you're in a good relationship, that's ideal. But men who are not decent already use the threat of unwanted pregnancy and childbearing, as well as violence toward born children and wanted fetuses, as tools to control, possess, and terrify women. A bill writing their ownership of women's bodies into law, giving them the legal trump card over women's fates, is only likely to make it worse.

Don't get me wrong: I don't actually think this bill will pass -- it's ludicrous, unconstitutional, and would embarrass the state of Ohio if it did become law and was taken straight to court -- but there's just so much that this guy either has never even thought about or considers acceptable collateral damage in the war of cultural abstractions he's waging. He says promiscuity and irresponsibility are the enemies, and society's moral fabric is the victim; but his battle plan is to arm some sadists and give them the right to own slaves.


Whew! Sorry to get all pessimistic on you there! I'll just cap things off with another brilliant word from our co-sponsor:

I think it is not a bad idea to have a fully informed group making the decision," Morgan said.

Oh yeah? Here is what my partner had to say about that: "There should be an awesome version of that law, that allows fathers to have a say, but only if they participate in a televised game show where you spin a giant Wheel-of-Fortune-style device with a combination of horrible pregnancy mishaps. Like: sterility, losing life savings, the mom gets to leave you with sole custody of the kid and book it. The kind of amendment you could slip into a bill that people wouldn't notice."

And maybe the game show can have an "Ask The Audience" option, where they poll the fully informed group to make the decision:

and now i'm pregnant....

I was raped...4 weeks ago, 2 months ago, in August or July, it was a while back and now I’m pregnant.

I'm really sorry you went through that. Do you want the Number to the Rape and Incest National Network hotline number?

Are there any family members you have told about your situation?

No.

Is there anyone you feel comfortable telling?

No. My mom kicked me out when she found out I was trying to get an abortion.

Are you able to explain to her what happen to you?

No she doesn't believe me.

Can you lie to anyone to get money?

No.

I want to help you figure this out but you will have to find a way to scrape together the money if you want to get an abortion.

These words seem completely illogical given the circumstance. When someone is raped they don’t need to be reminded they are responsible for handling the outcomes of this violation. Often that is my role. I have to acknowledge that this situation is not their fault. But, it will not go away unless they find a way to make the appointment, get the money, make the numerous phone calls, find the ride and someone who will go with them, and do whatever else is needed to coordinate services that should be accessible no matter what the cause of the pregnancy.

I've been raped before. I did not have to worry about being pregnant or obtaining an abortion after. I felt lost, confused, hurt, and a deep emotional and physical pain. The months after I was violated are a blur of emotions. I was no longer present in my body. Sometimes it’s hard for me to understand how women are 5 or 6 months pregnant and didn’t realize it. Each time is not necessarily a result of rape. However, I believe this is a result of dissociation from one's body for a variety of reasons often related to some form of violation.

It’s hard to hear women's rape stories. I have a fear that their story could happen to me. Even when a woman shares the most difficult of stories with me I have to be the stern yet supportive voice on the other end of the phone saying, "You have got to get this money in order to get an abortion."

Often times, women do not offer their stories of rape for any number of reasons. When I ask them, "What about the man involved in your pregnancy, can he give you any money?" the story spills out of them. Sometimes they become angry I asked such a seemingly senseless question given their circumstances. Other times, they are searching for a listening ear and someone who will let them cry or yell or be sad, or just be ok with the realization that this is really happening.

Women are left physically and emotionally scarred when assaulted and when it results in pregnancy they are also left with the responsibility of making a choice about what to do about that pregnancy. Then they have to find the means to handle their choice to have an abortion or carry to term. When an abortion is out of reach there really is not much choice involved in the matter. In many states Medicaid will cover abortion in the cases of rape and incest. Most often to use Medicaid in these circumstances a woman needs to have reported the assault with in 24 hours and have obtained a rape kit at a hospital. Sixty percent of rapes are not reported to the police. This means that a huge number of women who are pregnant as a result of rape did not report the rape and many of the women who do report it do not necessarily do so in the 24 hour window required for Medicaid to cover abortion care.

Personally, I spent the first year after being assaulted in denial that what happened was rape. When the person who assaults you is someone you know or even love it becomes more difficult to recognize that this person violated you and it was not ok. Seventy-three percent of rape victims know their assailant. As women tell their stories it is clear they usually know the man who violated their body. It was their father, a nineteen-year-old cousin, a man at my cousin’s wedding, my best friend who committed suicide when he realized what he had done, a friend of a friend at a party, my brother’s best friend, my neighbor, a man I was dating who left me for dead afterwards. When a woman’s assailant is someone she knows intimately, reporting rape may be even more difficult and even dangerous.

Abortion is a service that should be available to anyone who wants or needs it. The financial hardship, logistical difficulties, and social stigma involved in obtaining an abortion are violations of women’s rights. As someone who is a rape survivor I must desensitize myself in order to help women navigate through all of these challenges to obtain care. These obstacles create an environment that makes it even harder for a rape survivor to heal both mentally and physically.