Senate Supports National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

On October 26, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a resolution (S. Res. 282) supporting the goals and ideals of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The House approved a similar resolution (H. Con. Res. 209) on September 28 (see The Source, 9/30/05).

Sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• Since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, communities have made significant progress in reducing domestic violence, and the incidents of nonfatal domestic violence fell 49 percent;
• Over 660 state laws have been passed pertaining to domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault;
• The Senate recently passed the Violence Against Women Act of 2005, which reauthorized critical components of the original law and established additional protections for battered immigrants and victims of human trafficking in order to further combat domestic violence and sexual assault;
• Women who have been abused are much more likely to suffer from chronic pain, diabetes, depression, unintended pregnancies, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS;
• Each year, about 342,000 pregnant women in the United States are battered by the men in their lives, leading to pregnancy complications such as low-weight gain, anemia, infections, and first and second trimester bleeding;
• Sixty-four percent of women have reported being raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by their current or former intimate partner;
• The cost of domestic violence, including rape, physical assault, and stalking, exceeds $5.8 billion each year, of which $4.1 billion is spent on direct medical and mental health services;
• Over 50 percent of abused women lose at least 3 days of work per month due to domestic violence, 60 percent of battered women endure reprimands for arriving late to work and displaying other work-related problems associated with abuse, and 70 percent report difficulties in performing their work due to the effects of domestic violence;
• The need to increase the public awareness and understanding of domestic violence and the needs of battered women and their children continues to exist; and
• The month of October 2005 has been recognized as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.