Rebecca's Story

Rebecca had been very ill and took some night-time cold medicine before going to bed early one night.  Some point thereafter she heard a knock at her door, which she groggily answered—it was a guy friend, checking to see how she was feeling, ostensibly worried since she hadn’t answered her phone.  Rebecca let him in the apartment, appreciative of the concern he showed.  He coaxed her into her bed, saying he would rub her back for her as she fell asleep and that she would feel better if she rested.  Rebecca thought, “Oh, how sweet of him, right?”  She was drugged, sleepy, trusting...she dozed off.  

Before she knew what was happening, Rebecca was struggling to keep her knees together.  He was twisting her arm behind her back, smashing his elbow across her mouth.  In a disturbing and “sick moment,” Rebecca realized that not only was he going to seriously hurt her and then have his way, but he was getting off on her struggle with him.  Rebecca gave up.  Afterwards, she didn't even consider calling the police because she didn't think they would believe her.  Rebecca thought, “They would ask why I let him in my apartment, how could I be so stupid to trust him, didn't I think it was inappropriate to have a friend tuck me in to bed? I wasn't going to put myself through all of that scrutiny and all of that judgment for nothing!”  Rebecca didn't go to the hospital, she didn't go to the clinic, she tried not to think about it.  She made up lies about where the bruises had come from.  

Rebecca was successful in avoiding the topic until she found out several weeks later that she was pregnant. She recounts, “Thankfully I was able to terminate the pregnancy a few days later—to the tune of $300 and a month of pain and bleeding as well as guilt and grief."  Rebecca “just knows that so much suffering could have been avoided" if she could have gone into the Walgreens (just a block from her apartment) immediately following the assault and picked up some emergency contraception, without having to answer questions about why she needed it or "having to deal with the shame of just having been completely violated."

-Nebraska