I'd imagine that it would be. It's a small town, and I'd hazard a guess that at least a couple of the women who had to pay for the rape kits probably related that experience to others. I mean, there were complaints about the policy, after all, that aroused statewide discussion, so somebody was obviously talking about it.

But, yes, you're right. It would only serve as a deterrent if people who were raped knew about it.

The other side of the coin is that if potential sex offenders knew about it, they could target uninsured or poor women with relative impunity, knowing that such women were "freebies".

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson