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Gina was raped in 1997 by a man who broke into her home in the early hours of the morning. Following the rape, she called 911 and the police came to her house. They escorted Gina and her boyfriend to the hospital emergency room.
At the time, Gina’s first concern was the wait she may experience at the emergency room; she was in pain and did not want to sit in the waiting room with strangers. The hospital had a well established Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program that was able to see Gina immediately. During the exam, the SANE nurse collected evidence using a rape kit, gave her antibiotics to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, and emergency contraception.
Gina was grateful for the immediate response of the nurse to provide her with EC. She states, “For me, there was no question--I needed EC.” Gina was at a fertile point in her cycle and “the chance of becoming pregnant with a violent rapist’s baby was something [she] could not even bear to think about.”
Gina believes that EC should be widely available and always an option for women so “no woman should ever have to worry about becoming pregnant as a result of rape.” She thinks it is “unconscionable that someone would even suggest that a woman who was raped be denied EC. The trauma following a rape is monumental and having to wait and see if you are pregnant is mind blowing.” When Gina talks to people about her rape and the availability of EC, she asks them to consider the women in their own lives. Would they want the women they know to be given the option to prevent a pregnancy that has resulted from a rape?
The man who attacked Gina was caught and found guilty of raping Gina and another woman. Speaking out about her experience originally worried Gina; however she decided that if she told her story it could help other women. That is one of the reasons she decided to share her story with RaisingHerVoice.org.
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