Something caught my eye in an article that I was reading the other day. It was an infographic stating that my state of Indiana was sixth in the nation for domestic abuse against women. Sixth??? 42.5 percent of women in my state experience some form of domestic abuse? Seriously????

That statistic was from 2010, so I did some more research to curb my curiosity and find a more recent statistic. I have to say, take statistics with a grain of salt, because they only go with what is reported and determined to, in fact, be DV. I found another statistic, dated 2022, but that was 33.5%…um, 2022 is only half over. How is this an accurate statement??? I could not find progression stats for 2020 and 2021, as they only grouped the two years because of the pandemic.

The Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV) had an interesting sheet that talked about during the pandemic deaths from DV rose 181%. OMG! 98 people died, versus the normal 47 people per year on average. While that doesn’t sound like all that many people, they were people that shouldn’t have died! Period. They were mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters, grandmothers…they were people other people loved and depended on! And there are probably just as many more that were not ruled as DV! And you might notice that I didn’t add the terms “wife” or “girlfriend”…that didn’t seem to matter, because they were killed by their intimate partners. That — that is my way of illustrating how the first set of roles I added is WAY more important!

What has to give to get a domestic violence law passed in Indiana??? Please know also that Indiana borders Kentucky, which is now third in the US for domestic violence against women AND men. Third!!! What’s keeping abusers from coming to Indiana to wreak havoc again? NOTHING.

Please, please, please…sign my Change.org petition. We need protection NOW, not later. Legislators seem to think it’s an issue they can deal with later. Later is NOW. We need to let legislators know that people are dying NOW. It’s not a “gun reform” thing, it’s a “victims need protection” thing! I will NOT keep pushing until I see the governor sign this bill into law with my own eyes!

Love and light and justice!