States Are Banning This DIY Rape Kit
Forensic evidence can be an important tool in solving and prosecuting sexual assault cases, but some victims don’t feel comfortable coming forward to police or medical examiners right away. Enter Leda Health, a company selling at-home 
evidence collection kits. “Collect time-sensitive DNA after sexual assault,” the company advertises.
Typically, rape kits—as they are unfortunately called—are administered by medical professionals. With Leda’s “early evidence kits,” people collect potential DNA themselves and send it off to be processed by the company’s partner labs.
But some states think Leda is overselling what its product can do for a victim.
“These kits essentially offer false promises to consumers by misleading them to think evidence collected privately at home can result in a criminal conviction—that is yet to have happened anywhere with the use of these kits,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry when she sued Leda in civil court in June. At least two states—Maryland and Washington—have outright banned the evidence kits. New York and Pennsylvania have sent cease-and-desist letters to Leda.
In a suit of its own against Pennsylvania and New York, Leda counters that “these kits are important because data shows that factors like lack of access, privacy concerns, personal safety, and distrust cause many sexual assault victims to avoid law enforcement and traditional methods of reporting and seeking help.” The company “has never claimed that its resources are better or m
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