It Begins With Abuse

According to statistics gathered by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, as many as one-fourth of women in the U.S. will be abused by a current or former spouse sometime in their lives.

The numbers are compiled in the booklet “Issues in Women’s Health,” which also offers these figures:

* Battered women account for 22% to 35% of all women seeking emergency medical services; 25% of women who attempt suicide; 23% of pregnant women who seek prenatal care; and 50% of women older than 30 who have been raped.

* A 1998 Bureau of Justice report concluded that women suffered about 5.9 million assaults and 876,000 rapes or other sexual assaults each year in 1995 and 1996.

* Researchers found that a current or former husband, live-in partner or date assaulted 76% of the female victims; an acquaintance, 17%; a stranger, 14%; and a relative, 9%.

* Women are six times more likely than men to be victims of crime in intimate relationships.

* In 1996, husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends and ex-boyfriends committed more than 1 million violent acts against women, including 26% of all rapes and sexual assaults.

* Women of all races are equally vulnerable to attacks by intimates.