This Tuesday, Senate Democrats introduced the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act. The brainchild of Amanda Nguyen, a state department official and rape survivor, the bill encourages states to adopt a survivors’ bill of rights. Nguyen founded Rise, a national advocacy group for sexual assault survivors, after being forced through a hellish legal process following her own rape. The group has been able to introduce a few state-level measures in Massachusetts and California, yet states like Utah, Kansas and New York lack established rights for survivors. New York State should be leading the nation in establishing rights for sexual assault victims, not lagging behind the rest of the country.

The need for sexual assault law reform cannot be overstated. When Nguyen was raped two years ago in Massachusetts, only a hospital pamphlet informed her that an extension was required to prevent the state from destroying her rape kit after six months. Nationwide, many rape kits are left untested. Many who do not report to the police — especially students — are forced to rely on personal crusades to receive recognition; Columbia University’s Emma Sulkowicz carried a mattress to her graduation last year to bring national attention to the neglect college rape victims face when they do not report assault to police. The basis of the Senate Bill, the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights created by Nguyen’s group, addresses these harsh realities by informing victims of their rights, providing them with counselors and ensuring rape kit procedures are efficient and documented.

New York is already leading the country on sexual assault reform in several ways. While states such as Maryland, Florida and Texas have only recently started tackling their rape kit backlog, New York City spent $12 million in 1999 and cleared its backlog in four years. However, in New York,  rapists, even if convicted, can still harass their victims through custody suits and contract suits. New York should amend the weaknesses in its laws and encourage others to do the same by adopting the Senate Bill’s recommendations. Several New York City representatives have already signed on to a similar resolution in the House. But even if this proposal cannot make it through the divided Congress, these common-sense reforms should still be adopted by the state.

Victims of sexual assault are more vocal now than they have ever been, but the immense bravery they display when shrugging off stigma to speak out for reform is not rewarded enough. The laws have yet to catch up with the outcry and mental and physical anguish of survivors, and the patchwork nature of reform has created a nation divided by contradicting rights. Some of the most vulnerable members of society are trapped in unimaginable hardship by these laws. New York State has already done much to advance its own policies on sexual assault, but it must go further and lead the national effort to establish the rights of victims as an unwavering standard.

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