--- title: Senate Passes Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act description: It's not often that the Senate stands unanimously on a bill, but this Monday, the politicians all voted in favor of the 'Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act.' If the House of Representatives passes the motion, it will ensure that survivors are given free rape kit tests after their assault and then informed of the results and notified 60 days prior to the destruction of the kit. canonical: https://time.com/4346255/sexual-assault-survivors-rights-act-2/ author: Megan Lasher article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-24T15:17:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:34.692Z og:title: Senate Unanimously Passes a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights og:description: It will ensure that survivors get free rape kits and results if it passes the House og:url: https://time.com/4346255/sexual-assault-survivors-rights-act-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt147834468a277154/6988949c0a4a2237529c9c86/senate-rape-survivor-act.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing On Heroin And Prescription Drug Abuse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senate Unanimously Passes a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights twitter:description: It will ensure that survivors get free rape kits and results if it passes the House twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt147834468a277154/6988949c0a4a2237529c9c86/senate-rape-survivor-act.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senate Unanimously Passes a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher May 24, 2016 3:17 PM UTC  New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) (L) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) testify before the Judiciary Committee about the impact of heroin and prescription drug abuse and deaths during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill January 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. The committee is working on several pieces of legislation that would assist states with abuse prevention and treatment and prosecution of those responsible for the recent spike in heroin and perscription drug overdose deaths. New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) (L) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) testify before the Judiciary Committee about the impact of heroin and prescription drug abuse and deaths during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill January 27, 2016 in Washington, DC. The committee is working on several pieces of legislation that would assist states with abuse prevention and treatment and prosecution of those responsible for the recent spike in heroin and perscription drug overdose deaths.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Megan Lasher](https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/) ## Megan Lasher May 24, 2016 3:17 PM UTC It’s not often that the Senate [stands unanimously](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/senate-bill-of-rights-rape-survivors%5Fus%5F57339da0e4b077d4d6f206cb) on a bill, but this Monday, every single member voted in favor of the [Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act.](https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2566/text) If the House of Representatives passes the motion, it will ensure that survivors are given [free rape kit tests](http://www.refinery29.com/2016/05/111776/senate-passes-sexual-assault-survivors-bill-of-rights) after their assault and then informed of the results and notified 60 days prior to the destruction of the kit, with the option to preserve all evidence through the statute of limitations. The Survivors’ Rights Act was drafted by New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen with help from sexual assault survivor Amanda Nguyen and her foundation, [Rise](http://www.risenow.us). “America leads the world in protecting citizens’ rights to liberty and equality, yet our country currently lacks baseline procedures for rape survivors depriving millions of Americans basic liberties,” the [Rise website](http://www.risenow.us/who-we-are) states. “The [Center for Disease Control reports](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6308a1.htm) that a staggering 25 million Americans are rape survivors—a population [nearly equal to the state of Texas](http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/map/PST045214/48). Americans urgently need a comprehensive Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights that standardizes the best practices drawing on innovation we’ve seen implemented across the country.” The bill has yet to pass in the House, but [a resolution](https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/230) was introduced in the House last year that encouraged states to adopt a similar bill of rights for survivors of sexual assault—and it received support from both sides of the aisle. Senator Shaheen [wrote a Medium post](https://medium.com/@SenatorShaheen/establishing-basic-rights-for-survivors-of-sexual-assault-af4e868525e8#.fxpq0xpt2) to explain the bill and its background, saying that it was inspired by her personal interaction with Nguyen, who “is still required to return to the state of her assault every six months to make sure her rape kit is not destroyed.” Shaheen says the system was working against Nguyen, something many survivors fear when it comes to reporting their attacker. “When you hear about Amanda’s experience, you can see why nearly 70% of survivors don’t report their rape or decide not to press charges. This has to change.” Read Shaheen’s full article on [Medium.com](https://medium.com/@SenatorShaheen/establishing-basic-rights-for-survivors-of-sexual-assault-af4e868525e8#.fxpq0xpt2), and read more about the bill on [Refinery29.com](http://www.refinery29.com/2016/05/111776/senate-passes-sexual-assault-survivors-bill-of-rights) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4346255/sexual-assault-survivors-rights-act-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4346255/sexual-assault-survivors-rights-act-2/"},"headline":"Senate Unanimously Passes a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights","datePublished":"2016-05-24T15:17:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:34.692Z","description":"It will ensure that survivors get free rape kits and results if it passes the House","url":"https://time.com/4346255/sexual-assault-survivors-rights-act-2/","keywords":["motto","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt147834468a277154/6988949c0a4a2237529c9c86/senate-rape-survivor-act.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Lasher","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-lasher/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt147834468a277154/6988949c0a4a2237529c9c86/senate-rape-survivor-act.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing On Heroin And Prescription Drug Abuse","caption":"New Hampshire senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) (L) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) testify before the Judiciary Committee about the impact of heroin and prescription drug abuse and deaths during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill Janua","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","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":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4346255/sexual-assault-survivors-rights-act-2/","name":"Senate Unanimously Passes a Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights"}}]}] ```