TACOMA, Wash. – A US District Court judge dismissed a challenge to a 2023 Washington law banning the sale of over-the-counter rape kits Monday.
The 2023 law was meant to ensure that victims of sexual assault seek assistance from law enforcement, given that over-the-counter rape kits are not legally admissible evidence in criminal trials.
“At-home sexual assault test kits create false expectations and harm the potential for successful investigations and prosecutions. The sale of over-the-counter sexual assault kits may prevent survivors from receiving accurate information about their options,” Washington session law states.
Leda Health Corporation, a Pennsylvania business that sells over-the-counter rape kits and purports to focus on empowering survivors of sexual assault, brought a lawsuit against the state after the passage of the 2023 law.
On Monday, US District Judge David Estudillo dismissed Leda Health’s case, stating that the company failed to offer plausible constitutional rights allegations against the state.
It isn’t the first time Leda has taken on a state in court, as it is facing legal scrutiny at home. Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry filed a cease-and-desist order against Leda in June offering a similar justification to the 2023 Washington law.
“Disclaimers attached to the kits inadequately inform and mislead consumers into thinking collecting a sample on their own could supplant steps taken at a medical/forensics facility that is qualified in proper evidence collection,” the Pennsylvania AG’s office said.
Sexual assault survivors must contact law enforcement and request to have a rape kit administered by a healthcare professional in order for the evidence collected by that process to prove admissible in court.
A significant backlog of sexual rape kit processing has impeded justice in Washington for over a decade due to a slow Washington State Patrol testing regime. Law enforcement were not required to test every kit until 2015, creating additional legal hurdles for survivors of assault that spurred state legislative attention toward sexual assault in the late 2010s.
In October 2023 Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office announced that the backlog of rape kits was addressed and that the state had created a more efficient process for sexual assault survivors.
