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


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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.
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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
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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.
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