Few Governors Endorse Advocacy Group’s Call To Prioritize Rape Kit Testing

Few Governors Endorse Advocacy Group’s Call To Prioritize Rape Kit Testing

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

Test400k is a Chicago-based advocacy group for rape survivors. 

Two weeks ago, they sent every governor a rape kit to remind them of the hundreds of thousands of kits that have gone untested by law enforcement. They gave a two-week deadline to governors to endorse moves like a system for tracking rape kits.

Julie Smolyansky, co-founder of Test400k, said Washington and Mississippi endorsed the call. Some governors asked for more time, including Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Rauner’s office pointed out that the Governor signed a bill two weeks ago that would require faster rape kit testing in Illinois.