Ted Poe: “Natasha's life changed because she was the prey of a sexual predator. Here's the beginning of her dramatic story: In…”

“Natasha's life changed because she was the prey of a sexual predator. Here's the beginning of her dramatic story: In 1993, I was violently raped, sodomized and robbed at gunpoint by an unknown assailant. When I escaped and thankfully found myself in my apartment, my roommate insisted that I go to the hospital. I agreed to wait for an ambulance, even though my first instinct was to take a shower. I'm so grateful today that I made that choice to go to that hospital. Mr. Speaker, Natasha is one of many victims of this barbaric and dastardly crime. According to information released by the Centers for Disease Control, nearly one in five women in America has been raped at some point in their lives. As both a former prosecutor and a judge in Texas, I was involved with the criminal trials of rape cases for 30 years. I learned firsthand the devastation that sexual assault victims experience, and I understand and learned that sexual assault does not just physically harm the victim; it harms their entire being both physically, emotionally, and mentally; and the pain sometimes lasts forever. Mr. Speaker, rapists try to steal the soul from their victims, and they try to destroy the self-worth of victims, and sometimes they do. One of the most critical pieces of evidence for rape trials is the rape kit, a tool that gathers forensic evidence, including DNA evidence, to link the rapist to the crime.…”