April Is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

March 30, 2005

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and advocates have declared April 5 as a day of action to prevent sexual assault. Please take action and/or pass this message on to your colleagues, coalitions and members.

1. Talk to your senators and representative about the upcoming Violence Against Women Act 2005, the reauthorization bill which is currently awaiting introduction in both the Senate and House. There are important funding and programmatic enhancements that need your support and VAWA must be renewed by Sept. 30.

2. Ask your senator to sponsor S. 20, the "Prevention First Act" introduced by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Currently the bill has 22 additional co sponsors and our goal is to have two-thirds of the Senate supporting this bill. Providing emergency contraception for rape survivors is an important component of this women's health measure. A House counterpart to S. 20 will be introduced in the near future by Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.

3. Ask your representative to sponsor H.R. 1214, a bill introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). This proposal, which has more than 50 sponsors, will require the Department of Justice to include emergency contraception for rape victims in its national protocol for treatment of rape survivors. These first-ever national medical guidelines had originally included EC as part of the rape treatment options, but recommendations about EC disappeared in the final version. Rape survivors who seek medical treatment must have information about EC and the option to take it as part of their medical treatment.

4. Speak out against violence against women in the military and ask the Pentagon to stop overlooking the sexual violence at our academies and in the battle zones.

5. Speak up and speak out against sexual violence whenever you have a chance—with peers, colleagues, young people, diverse communities, schools, businesses, religious leaders and civic organizations to name a few.