 |
One
out of every two American women will
be beaten at least once in the course
of an intimate relationship. |
|
A
woman is beaten every 12 seconds in
the United States. |
|
Over
4,000 women are killed each year at
the hands of their batterers. |
|
33%
of battered women suffer from anxiety
and depression; 26% of all women who
attempt suicide are victims of
domestic violence. |
|
64%
of hospitalized female psychiatric
patients have a history of being
physically abused as an adult. |
|
It
is clear that the most influential
victim precipitant is being female. |
|
Battering
by male partners is the single most
common source of injury to women, more
common than auto accidents, muggings
and rape by a stranger combined. |
|
Studies
have shown that 22-35% of women who
visit emergency rooms are there for
symptoms related to ongoing abuse,
either because of an injury or as a
manifestation of the stress of living
in an abusive relationship. |
|
Much
research reports that violence against
women escalates during pregnancy. One
study found 37% of obstetric patients
were physically abused during
pregnancy. |
|
Battering
of women during pregnancy causes more
birth defects than all the diseases
put together for which children are
usually immunized. |
|
Children
and youth who witness abuse of their
mothers display as much or more
physical and verbal aggression, sleep
disturbance and general anxiety than
those who are direct recipients of the
abuse. The Children ARE affected
profoundly. |
|
70%
of men who batter women also batter
their children, making the presence of
spouse abuse the single most
identifiable risk factor for
predicting child abuse. |
