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Rape Victims Tell Colorado Lawmakers To Pass The 'Anonymous' Bill

DENVER (CBS4) - Rape victims in Colorado may soon be allowed to get help without being forced to talk to police.

Currently, doctors must report a rape to police along with the victim's name, but a bill under debate in the Legislature would change that.

The bill gives sexual assault survivors back some of the power and control they have lost. It allows them to go to an emergency room and get medical care without being forced into the criminal judicial system.

Michelle Aswad went before a House committee on Friday and recounted the horror of rape. She conveyed the hurt, humiliation the feeling of helplessness she experienced and told lawmakers they had the opportunity to make the healing a little easier.

"Knowledge is power, options are power, and in the beginning that's all victims have," Aswad told lawmakers.

RELATED: Bill Would Allow Rape Victims To Keep Their Names Out Of Police Reports

Yet in Colorado, sexual assault survivors often don't have the power to decide if they want police involved. If a rape kit is performed, the doctor is required by law to report the rape and victim's name to police.

Colorado is one of nine states with a mandatory reporting law.

"Imagine going to your health care provider and disclosing the most personal, humiliating and terrifying thing that has ever happened to you," Karen Moldovan with the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault said. "Then imagine having your doctor contact law enforcement with this personal information even though you made choice not to do so yourself."

Victims advocates, nurses, police and survivors urged the committee to pass the bill that would allow a victim to remain anonymous when a rape kit is done. The kit would instead have a unique identifying number so that if the victim decided at a later time to file a police report the evidence would be preserved.

Rape Kit Generic Sexual Assault
(credit: CBS)

Aswad did pursue criminal charges, but says what's important is that it was her decision.

"Although I was unable to fight the night of my assault, it has given me the ability to fight through justice system ever since," she said.

The Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault says it surveyed nearly 240 police, prosecutors and medical providers; and more than half of them said they knew of a victim who wanted to report an assault but didn't because they couldn't be anonymous.

The bill passed the committee unanimously Friday and heads to the full House. It has already passed the Senate.

LINK: Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault

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