Page 49 - Rape Kits News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Republicans in the texas state house of representatives passed a bill that bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, requires doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, limits abortions to surgical centers and requires doctors string abortion-inducing drugs to do so in person. a republican sponsor of the bill explained why she believes a rape exception is not necessary. >> you have hospital emergency rooms. we have funded what's called rape kits that will help the woman -- basically clean her out and again, hopefully that will

How did you feel about the fact that your kit had been sitting on the shelf for so many years? >> they have just let them stack up and stack up and stack up, and that's just unacceptable. >> reporter: you heard right. carol wasn't the only one. years earlier, dallas police sergeant patrick welsh discovered a huge backlog of rape kits, and started a sexual assault cold case program. how critical would you say the rape kits are in helping you solve these cases? >> they're vital to our investigations, no question about that. >> reporter: sergeant welsh turned to the team here at the southwestern ...

Of the 300 they've tested, they've gotten 119 hits, and of those, 29 have been i.d.'d as serial rapists. it's all frustrating for carol. >> i can understand one city maybe being negligent but a nation being negligent with rape kits? i don't understand it. this is a felony crime. >> reporter: a felony crime that still has police playing catch-up. randi kaye, cnn, dallas. >> joining us now, cnn legal analyst, the former federal prosecutor, sunny hostin. it's just unbelievable that this can happen in the united states of america, that a possible key to solving these crimes, convicting rapists sit...

Detroit has just started testing their backlog of 11,000 kits and of the 300 they've tested, they've gotten 119 hits, and of those, 29 have been i.d.'d as serial rapists. it's all frustrating for carol. >> i can understand one city maybe being negligent but a nation being negligent with rape kits? i don't understand it. this is a felony crime. >> reporter: a felony crime that still has police playing catch-up. randi kaye, cnn, dallas. >> joining us now, cnn legal analyst, the former federal prosecutor, sunny hostin. it's just unbelievable that this can happen in the united states of america, t...

Never been processed. how did you feel about the fact that your kit had been sitting on the shelf for so many years? >> they have just let them stack up and stack up and stack up, and that's just unacceptable. >> reporter: you heard right. carol wasn't the only one. years earlier, dallas police sergeant patrick welsh discovered a huge backlog of rape kits, and started a sexual assault cold case program. how critical would you say the rape kits are in helping you solve these cases? >> they're vital to our investigations, no question about that. >> reporter: sergeant welsh turned to the team her...