And that, my friends, brings us back to the “rape kit” story.

For a while now, folks have been trying to poke holes in the story that Palin’s city had a policy of charging rape victims for their forensic exams because the city wanted to keep taxes low. But those critics really haven’t been able to disprove the basic point – Palin’s city was one of the only in Alaska to refuse to pay for rape exams, and the state had to pass legislation requiring cities pay for such exams. If it wasn’t a problem, why did they pass the legislation? Because it was a problem, and it’s been in a problem in a number of states. That’s why victims’ groups fought for years to get those anti-women policies changed.

And while Palin’s hand-picked chief of police at the time says the city tried, “when possible,” to charge the victim’s insurance company for the exam, he never did quite say what happened when the victim didn’t have insurance, when it wasn’t possible. Not to mention, Sarah Palin’s city charged rape victims’ insurance companies, and we’re to believe that the insurance picked up the emergency room visit 100% and the victims never were forced to pay a dime? Really? I have never gotten any doctor visit free via my insurance. I have ALWAYS had to pay a deductible and a co-pay. Always. I had to go the emergency room last year, I had to fork out $92 AFTER my insurance paid the rest, and I have GREAT insurance, the best policy I can get for someone self-employed. We’re to believe that charging the insurance company somehow made these exams free for rape victims? Are these people high?

And while Palin put out a statement saying she’s all for rape victims not being charged for the collection of evidence, she never did say how she feels about the charging the victims for the emergency contraception often included in the rape kit used to treat the victim. Well, now we may know.

Katie Couric got Sarah Palin to admit that she is fine with “contraception,” but she objects to the morning after pill because she’s pro-life. So Sarah Palin thinks the morning after pill is a form of abortion. And Sarah Palin opposes all abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger (though in the video below she seems to hedge on that point). So the question remains, does Sarah Palin support government agencies paying for rape kits which include emergency contraception? Have her answer that question, and we can put the entire rape kit story to rest once and for all.

At the end of this video, Palin makes the comment about emergency contraception.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECTnBYQjDH8]

One other thing. Anyone else get the sense that Palin was basically putting out the pro-choice position during this interview – she would personally urge women not get abortions, but wouldn’t require it?