WASHINGTON — House members want Department of Defense officials to make sure overseas troops have enough access to rape kits, pregnancy tests, and personnel trained to help sexual assault victims.

An amendment inserted in the House’s 2006 defense budget proposal would require the department to review the availability and accessibility of those resources and develop a plan to ensure that supplies, counseling and transportation are available to deal with sexual assaults that may occur in deployed units.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., introduced the amendment as a way to keep assault victims from being hurt again “by the lack of appropriate, compassionate care at military healthcare facilities.”

Department of Defense statistics released in early May showed 1,275 cases of sexual assault among servicemembers in 2004. Of those, 351 were not pursued because of unsubstantiated or insufficient evidence.

“Women in the service put themselves in harm’s way to protect us and our nation from threats at home and abroad,” Slaughter said. “The least we can do is ensure they are protected when facing a horrible tragedy.”

Roger Kaplan, spokesman for the department’s Joint Task Force on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, said officials there have been polling Central Command facilities to ensure rape evidence kits, pregnancy tests, sexually transmitted disease tests and other supplies are available if an assault occurs.

He could not gauge the progress over the last two years, but said officials have done a good job getting all four services to share personnel and supplies when a victim seeks help.

But Eric Burns, spokesman for Slaughter, said gaps still exist in the needs of assault victims and the services available.

“It’s something that has not been sufficiently dealt with,” he said. “The department needs to go back and look at what is available, and have an assessment to determine exactly where the problems are.”

The budget bill also includes language updating punishment for rape convictions and adding stalking as a crime under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Both the Senate and president will have to approve the budget measure before the sexual assault provisions become law.