Editorials - 10/24/02

Domestic violence locally has far-reaching effects

Some 8 to 11 percent of all pregnant women are abused by their partners. More babies are born in the United States with birth defects due to battering than the combination of all diseases for which pregnant women are immunized.

Our hospital's emergency room sees the statistics and the abused faces behind them. Harris Regional just received a grant to begin a comprehensive domestic violence initiative because 22 to 35 percent of women who visit emergency rooms seek treatment for injuries related to domestic violence.

Domestic violence comes to work also. Research indicates abusers cost employers $ 4 to 5 billion annually in our country because victims have higher health care costs, miss work and are sometimes forced to quit their jobs or loose them because of the abuser.

Where do basic human rights begin? Right here in our own homes. What can be more basic than a person's right to life, liberty and to feeling secure in their community and in their own homes? No person should be subjected to cruel or painful treatment at the hands of anyone - especially someone they love and trust.

When women and children in Jackson County experience violence in their homes, it has far-reaching effects on our world outside Jackson County. Our model of the world is created in the homes we grow up in. What we see as children patterns our expectations about how males and females will behave toward one another.

It also patterns our expectations about how strong people are to behave to weaker people and how stronger countries should behave in the world. Finally, it tells us what we can expect of justice and fairness in our world.

- Sybil Mann, director of the 30th Judicial District Domestic Violence-Sexual Assault Alliance, authored this editorial.

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