CDC Finds One In Four American Women Abused
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that one in four American women has been the victim of domestic violence by being hit hard, kicked or otherwise violently attacked by an intimate partner.
And that's not all: Nearly one in five women in the United States reported that they had been raped at some point in their lives. More than 1 million women are raped in a year and more than 6 million women and men are victims of stalking in a year, according to the report.
The CDC found that on average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States, based on a survey conducted in 2010. Over the course of a year, that equals more than 12 million women and men.
"These findings emphasize that sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence are important and widespread public health problems in the United States," the CDC says on its website.
WWJ's Pat Sweeting spoke with a domestic violence counselor at the YWCA in Detroit who urged that no one accept abuse. Sweeting reported that a local hotline for domestic violence victims is available 24 hours a day at 313-861-5300.
