--- description: Calls also increased 45.6% since Ford's allegations became public title: National Sexual Assault Hotline Spiked 147% During Christine Blasey Ford Hearing image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt355beaeeef6e16fc/69893b5eab6d77fb7d6b3cb2/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-sexual-assault-allegations.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Supreme Court](/tag/supreme-court/) ## Supreme Court Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # National Sexual Assault Hotline Spiked 147% During Christine Blasey Ford Hearing by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 27, 2018 10:56 PM CUT  Dr. Christine Blasey Ford speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court in Washington DC on Sept. 27, 2018. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court in Washington DC on Sept. 27, 2018.REX/Shutterstock—REX/Shutterstock by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 27, 2018 10:56 PM CUT When [Christine Blasey Ford testified](http://time.com/5408177/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-testimony/ "undefined") on Thursday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago, millions of Americans listened to her describe the intimate details of her alleged assault and the trauma she says she has lived with for decades since. For many of those people, her words and the questions she was asked brought up personal memories. Some [shared their experiences on social media](http://time.com/5408503/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-hearings-women-reaction/ "undefined"), others talked to friends or co-workers and others [called into news networks](http://time.com/5408805/christine-blasey-ford-testimony-cspan-caller/ "undefined") to publicly recall their incidents of assault. It turns out many people also called the National Sexual Assault Hotline looking for help. The National Sexual Assault Hotline saw a 147 percent increase in calls on Thursday compared with a normal weekday on which sexual assault did not dominate the news, according to RAINN, a large anti-sexual violence organization that administers the hotline. The organization told TIME it often sees an uptick in survivors asking for help when sexual assault is in the news. But Thursday’s numbers were even higher than some recent instances. For example, in October 2016 when the Access Hollywood tape of then-candidate Donald Trump saying he could get women and “grab ’em by the p—y” was released, calls to the sexual assault hotline went up [33 percent](https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/health/trump-locker-room-talk-reaction/index.html "undefined"). Since Ford has come forward with her allegations, RAINN said it has seen a 45.6 percent increase compared to the same time period last year. And over this past weekend when [a second accuser](http://time.com/5404577/brett-kavanaugh-deborah-ramirez-hearing/ "undefined"), Deborah Ramirez, came forward with an allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, RAINN’s hotline saw an increase of 57 percent compared to an average Friday through Sunday. Kavanaugh has denied all of Ford’s allegations, as well as those leveled by Ramirez and by [a third accuser](http://time.com/5406994/kavanaugh-accuser-swetnick-sexual-attacks/ "undefined"), Julie Swetnick. He testified after Ford on Thursday and again denied all of the allegations, saying that he wanted to clear his name. Anyone looking for resources to talk about sexual assault can visit [RAINN’s online hotline](https://hotline.rainn.org/online/ "undefined") or call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5409239/national-sexual-assault-hotline-spike-christine-blasey-ford-hearing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5409239/national-sexual-assault-hotline-spike-christine-blasey-ford-hearing/"},"headline":"National Sexual Assault Hotline Spiked 147% During Christine Blasey Ford Hearing","datePublished":"2018-09-27T22:56:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:45:27.506Z","description":"Calls also increased 45.6% since Ford's allegations became public","url":"https://time.com/5409239/national-sexual-assault-hotline-spike-christine-blasey-ford-hearing/","keywords":["Supreme Court","sexual misconduct","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt355beaeeef6e16fc/69893b5eab6d77fb7d6b3cb2/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-sexual-assault-allegations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt355beaeeef6e16fc/69893b5eab6d77fb7d6b3cb2/christine-blasey-ford-brett-kavanaugh-hearing-sexual-assault-allegations.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Judiciary Committee Brett Kavanaugh nomination hearing, Washington DC, USA - 27 Sep 2018","caption":"Senate Judiciary Committee Brett Kavanaugh nomination hearing, Washington DC, USA - 27 Sep 2018","creditText":"REX/Shutterstock—REX/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5409239/national-sexual-assault-hotline-spike-christine-blasey-ford-hearing/","name":"National Sexual Assault Hotline Spiked 147% During Christine Blasey Ford Hearing"}}]}] ```