Calls to National Sexual Assault Hotline up by 201 percent during Ford testimony

Christine Blasey Ford.
(Image credit: MICHAEL REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images)

When Christine Blasey Ford decided to speak out, others did, too.

Calls to the National Sexual Assault Hotline saw a 201 percent spike Thursday while Ford gave an emotional testimony relaying her alleged sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network spokeswoman Sara McGovern told CNN.

Numbers have been increasing over the past week, McGovern said, with a 57 percent uptick last weekend. Ford said last week she'd be willing to testify in the next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and The New Yorker published allegations from a second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, on Sunday.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

RAINN, which oversees the National Sexual Assault Hotline, often sees increases like this when stories of sexual assault are prominently featured in the news, McGovern said. "Following the (Harvey) Weinstein case and the #MeToo movement, the hotline saw a 46 percent increase," she told CNN.

RAINN's hotline services include both a phone line to call and an online chat. Marianne Dodson

See more

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Marianne Dodson

Marianne is The Week’s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.