SCCADVASA continues our advocacy efforts for access to all forms of critical health care for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Exam
Access to a SANE exam after a sexual assault is essential to a survivor’s health and wellbeing by providing immediate crisis intervention and comprehensive and trauma-informed specialty care.
SANE programs are designed to identify and respond to sexual assault victims’ emotional and physical needs following a rape or sexual assault. Victims are accompanied to the hospital by an advocate who provides information and support before, during, and after the SANE exam and can connect victims with a local service provider to help them begin to heal. Forensic evidence collected during the exam can also be used to help prosecute perpetrators.
Strangulation Screening and Treatment
Strangulation is common in violent relationships and is one of the most serious and deadly forms of domestic abuse. It is also a significant predictor for future lethal violence with a survivor’s risk of being killed by an abusive partner increasing 10X if they have been strangled in the past.
Injuries can quickly become fatal with unconsciousness occurring within seconds, and death within minutes. Victims can also show no outward symptoms of strangulation but die weeks later due to oxygen deprivation and other internal injuries.
It is critical that domestic and sexual assault survivors have access to medical screening and treatment for strangulation.
Emergency Contraception
Emergency contraception is an integral component of a comprehensive medical response to sexual violence and is critical in preventing pregnancy after a sexual assault.
Emergency contraception is not an abortion. It is a birth control option that prevents pregnancy occurring after unprotected sex if taken within the medication’s specified time limit.
It is essential to a survivor’s health that hospital emergency rooms provide information about and access to emergency contraception as an integral component of compassionate and comprehensive health care.
Access to Abortion Care if Pregnancy Results from a Sexual Assault
In August 2023, South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban took effect after the state Supreme Court ruled to uphold S. 474. The bill was almost identical to one struck down by the same court in January 2023 as a violation of South Carolinians’ right to privacy under the state constitution.
Sexual and domestic violence removes a victim’s choice and control over their own body. People living in abusive relationships often experience violence and intimidation from abusers to control their sexual and reproductive choices. Once someone becomes pregnant, violence frequently escalates, putting them at greater risk of domestic homicide — a leading cause of death during pregnancy.
There are extremely narrow rape and incest exceptions to the current abortion ban that require physicians to report to law enforcement. This will lead to your confidential health information being released to law enforcement and potentially being used in any resulting court cases resulting from the assault or in the instance of a doctor being prosecuted for performing the abortion.
