At the end of 2022, President Biden passed a large spending bill that included significant increases to many funding sources that support victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, dating violence, and harassment. MOCADSV thanks our national coalition partners, champions in Congress, and advocates across the country for their work in getting these important increases to funding across the finish line.

Some highlights from this spending package include:

  • Record-breaking increase in funding for the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) program, which was increased by $37.5 million
  • Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP) increased by $24.5 million to a total of $78.5 million
  • Rape Prevention & Education Program (RPE) increased by $5 million to a total of $61.75 million
  • $170 million toward DNA initiatives that include sexual assault forensic exam kit testing and sexual assault forensic exam program grants
  • VAWA Culturally Specific Programs increased by $1 million to a total of $11 million
  • VOCA cap is set at $1.9 billion with no VAWA transfer
  • A number of increases to vital VAWA programs including: the Sexual Assault Services Program, the Transitional Housing program, Legal Assistance for Victims, the Rural Grant Program, as well as investments in newer programs like the LGBTQ Specific Services Program

 

For more information on the domestic and sexual violence funding passed in the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations bill, check out the information put out by the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) and the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV).

This letter was originally published in Teen Vogue. MOCADSV signed onto the letter. 

 

As survivors of sexual violence and advocates for survivors, we know exactly how precious and vital it is to be safe in our homes and our bodies, and how much is lost when that safety is violated by people who claim to love and protect us. We also know that words have power – both the words we use to describe our own experiences, and the words other people use to describe us.

That is why we can no longer stay silent while right-wing extremists appropriate the idea and terminology of “grooming” and “pedophilia” to attack gender equity and young people’s access to necessary education, whether these attacks are used to stoke fear and panic in attempts to ban any discussions of LGBTQ+ identity from classroom discussion, leveraged in efforts to ban books or get teachers or administrators fired, or used to undermine access to necessary relationships and sexuality education. The word “grooming” means something specific and serious: it is a secretive process by which someone builds false trust with a child they are intending to abuse.

LGBTQ+ representation and acceptance is life-saving for young people questioning their gender or orientation, and age-appropriate comprehensive sexual health education both gives youth skills to recognize and disclose abuse and helps reduce perpetration of sexual abuse.

This is why we are speaking today with one voice to demand that the journalists covering this devastating and false rhetoric do so responsibly. Whenever a source invokes the terminology of child abuse survivors as reasons to oppose education, LGBTQ+ rights, or other fundamental freedoms, we call on you to responsibly contextualize what child abuse actually is, and center the voices of survivor advocacy groups.

Child sexual abuse is real, and it is devastating. Standing in solidarity with the LGBTQ community has nothing to do with child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse is about people in positions of power harming the most vulnerable. As Kendall Ciesemier, a survivor, wrote in the New York Times: “Abusers often seek to gain the trust of their victims and, in time, use that trust to assert control over them… No anti-LGBTQ education bill, book ban or health care ban, would have prevented my abuse or helped me in its aftermath.” For survivors who are trans or queer, remaining in the closet and not coming to terms with our own identities has never protected us from the kind of violence we endured as children. For some of us, our abuse may have been directly related to others’ attempts to suppress our identity, and the impacts of this abuse were made worse by being unable to access LGBTQ-specific information about sexuality, sexual health, and relationships.

The extremists who use this harmful rhetoric are not keeping anyone safe. They do not support or speak for survivors. To the contrary: They are muddying the waters of language, trivializing the suffering of survivors, gaslighting the public, and making it increasingly impossible for children to name when they are experiencing harm from abusers. When there is confusion about what child abuse actually is, it will be harder to identify it and intervene to stop it. Using inaccurate and sensational narratives to stir a moral panic about LGBTQ+ rights and sexual health education will lead to ineffective and harmful interventions and policy decisions based on fictions rather than evidence. These extremists are only fueling the epidemic of child sexual abuse, increasing violence against the LGBTQ+ community, and ultimately threatening public health.

Many of the same politicians co-opting the use of language created to name sexual violence are doing nothing when their political allies are discovered to have committed actual sexual violence. They are using this rhetoric because they believe that keeping us afraid will help them gain and cling to power. And by spreading these baseless, cynical allegations, they are inciting violence against queer and trans people — people who are already significantly more likely to be victims of abuse, rather than perpetrators of it.

In fact, the very initiatives that do reduce children’s vulnerability to groomers and prevent child sexual abuse are the ones extremists are weaponizing the language of child abuse to oppose. LGBTQ+ affirming books and curricula save lives by helping all kids know their lives and rights to bodily autonomy are important, and that their identities are valid. Studies repeatedly show that quality, inclusive relationships and sexuality education can reduce child abuse, and empowers children to report if someone does try to harm them. We are tired of being weaponized as a right-wing talking point against the education and protections that will prevent more children from experiencing sexual violence.

Survivors of abuse will tell you that information is power and the real threats are fear, shame, and silence. Don’t make children pay the price for these politicians’ lies. By centering survivor advocates in this narrative and educating the public about what grooming is and is not, you can help people see through this fear-mongering ploy, return the power of words to survivors, and make children across this nation safer in the process.

Respectfully,

Advocates for Youth

Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Initiative

Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence

Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking

Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence

EducateUS: SIECUS In Action

Equality Federation

Equality Florida

Equality North Carolina

Florida Freedom to Read Project

Freedom Network USA

Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Jane Doe Inc. (JDI), the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence

Jews for a Secular Democracy

Keshet

Know Your IX

Lauren’s Kids

Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Michigan Organization of Adolescent Sexual Health Action Fund

Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence

National Center for Transgender Equality

National Survivor Network

Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence

New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault

North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence

Our Bodies Ourselves Today

Partners in Sex Education

Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida

Polaris

PRISM FL, Inc.

Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence

SafeBAE

Scarleteen

SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change

Stop It Now!

The Irina Project

The Trevor Project

Transinclusive Group

UN|HUSHED

University of Kansas Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Victim Rights Law Center

We Testify

Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault

You Are More Than

And the Following Individuals:

Amy Agigian

Anastasia Owen

Annie E. Clark

Beth Roselyn, PhD, Lecturer, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Kansas

Chel Miller

Chris Ash, Advocate and Educator

Dr. Melinda Chen

Florida Representative Anna V. Eskamani

Florida Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith

Florida Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book

Hannah E. Britton

Heather Corinna

Ida V. Eskamani

Jaclyn Friedman

Kimm Topping

Lenny Hayes, Executive Director, Tate Topa Consulting

Kai X. Christmas

Kolyn Brown

Mary Eakins-Durand

Max Micallef, Queer Rights & Suicide Prevention Activist

Melanie Andrade Williams

Pamela Merritt, Executive Director of Medical Students for Choice

Rebecca Kling, Advocate for Transgender Rights

Renee Bracey Sherman

Rin Alajaji

Sarah Deer

Sarah “Mili” Milianta-Laffin

Sarah Sophie Flicker

Shael Norris

Soraya Chemaly

Stacey Vanderhurst

Takeata King Pang

It’s not news to some that in communities throughout Missouri there have been restrictions on access to emergency contraception by faith-based hospitals and pharmacies. MOCADSV is gravely concerned that if more hospitals and pharmacies stop providing access to emergency contraception the ramifications of these decisions will again be placed on the shoulders of victims who need the best from Missouri, its decision-makers, their communities, and their healthcare providers. Sending a victim out in borrowed clothes after an assault and an invasive exam, to travel to a variety of stores or pharmacies to track down the medication they need to put their mind at ease is cruel and unwarranted. Missouri can and should do better.

St. Luke’s Health System in Kansas City has reversed their earlier decision to stop providing emergency contraception to patients. Their decision to stop providing it was based on interpretation of the 2019 “trigger law” that last week banned abortion, and the subsequent proclamation and opinion signed by the Governor and Attorney General. We appreciate St. Luke’s willingness to reverse course and put the needs of victims first. 

First and foremost, we want to thank the advocates at the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault (MOCSA). MOCSA staff immediately advocated on the behalf of victims by describing how this change in policy would affect someone who had just been raped and was seeking a comprehensive range of hospital care. MOCSA’s advocacy efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Thank you to Missouri House Minority Leader, Representative Crystal Quade of Springfield, for requesting an official opinion from the Attorney General’s office regarding the new law and the impact on Missourians who use contraception.

Thank you to the office of the Missouri Attorney General for quickly and unequivocally stating, as reported by the Missouri Independent, “Missouri law does not prohibit the use or provision of Plan B, or contraception,” said Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for Schmitt.”

After Governor Parson charged the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to evaluate whether the newly enacted law that bans abortions in Missouri applies to contraceptives, DHSS released a statement that contraception is not banned under Missouri law. “Before and following the Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling in Dobbs that overturns Roe v. Wade, Missouri law does not ban the use of contraception methods. RSMo 188.017 criminalizes performing an abortion absent a medical emergency, but this does not include pregnancy preventive measures.” 

We thank DHSS for their swift action in releasing this statement and ensuring that sexual assault survivors, and all Missourians, will continue to have access to emergency contraceptives.

We hope other providers that had been considering a change of practice to stop providing emergency contraception strongly consider the statements from the Attorney General’s office and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services before doing so. For additional information about birth control methods and where to access various forms of birth control, visit the Missouri Family Health Council.

On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the prior decision from Roe v. Wade that held that a woman has a constitutional right to abortion. This decision effectively ends the almost 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion in the U.S., largely leaving abortion rights up to the individual states.

Missouri’s 2019 abortion law contained a “trigger” provision that would immediately ban abortion in Missouri after an action by the Attorney General, Governor, or State Legislature. The same day as the Supreme Court’s ruling, Missouri’s Attorney General released an opinion and Missouri’s Governor sent out a proclamation both of which activated Missouri’s trigger law and banned all abortions in Missouri, with no exception for rape or incest. The only exceptions are for medical emergencies that threaten the life of the pregnant person or “create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”

Here is what we do know: Abortion care is no longer provided in Missouri, however, patients from Missouri may seek abortion services in other states – including Illinois and Kansas. Birth control and other types of contraception, including IUDs and Plan B, are not abortifacients and are not restricted under current Missouri law. Currently, patients who seek abortions should not be prosecuted under Missouri law, however, the law is unclear in regard to some types of abortion care. Patients should contact their local clinic for more information or call the All Options Talkline – 1-888-493-0092.

Every day, Missouri’s advocates see the trauma caused by the loss of control over survivors’ bodies after they have experienced violence. They are witness to the limiting or removing of survivors’ privacy and autonomy and how it further traumatizes survivors of rape and abuse by removing their ability to make choices for themselves.

Pregnancy can increase a person’s vulnerability to intimate partner abuse, and abusive partners often exercise reproductive coercion over their victims. Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) who experience reproductive coercion are less likely to be able to make decisions about family planning and contraception because of the dynamics of power and control present in abusive relationships. Unplanned pregnancies increase the risk of IPV, and IPV increases the risk of unplanned pregnancies.

Approximately, 1 in 5 young women reported experiencing pregnancy coercion, and 1 in 7 reported experiencing active interference with contraception 1. 25-50% of adolescent mothers experience intimate partner violence before, during, or just after their pregnancy 2. As many as one-quarter of women of reproductive age accessing healthcare providers for sexual and reproductive health services report a history of experiencing reproductive coercion at some point in their lifetime 3,4. Reproductive and pregnancy coercion is an all too common form of intimate partner sexual assault.

Maternal health is also negatively affected in states where abortion access is limited. According to a 2022 report from the Commonwealth Fund, in 2020 maternal death rates in abortion-restricted states were 62 percent higher than states with abortion access. Additionally, maternal deaths in abortion-restrictive states were reportedly higher in every major racial or ethnic group5.

Our legislative history includes advocating for marital rape to be a crime, advocating that domestic violence not be considered a pre-existing condition to deny insurance coverage, supporting the inclusion of consent, sexual harassment, and assault information in sex education programming in schools; and endorsing the Medicaid expansion ballot initiative. Our public policy work is rooted in providing options to survivors and working to prevent violence before it ever occurs.

 

1.National Crime Victimization Survey. (2005). https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/criminal-victimization-2005-revised
2. Leiderman, S. & Almo, C. (2001). Interpersonal violence and adolescent pregnancy: Prevalence and implications for practice and policy. Washington, DC: Healthy Teen Network. https://osbha.org/files/Interpersonal%20Violence%20and%20Pregnancy.pdf
3. Tarzia, L. & Hagerty, K. (2021). A conceptual re-evaulation of reproductive coercion: Centering intent, fear and control. https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-021-01143-6
4. Rowlands, S. & Walker, S. (2019). Reproductive control by others: Means, perpetrators and effects. BMJ Sex Reprod Health. (45) 61–7. https://srh.bmj.com/content/45/1/61

5.Eugene Declercq et al., The U.S. Maternal Health Divide: The Limited Maternal Health Services and Worse Outcomes of States Proposing New Abortion Restrictions (Commonwealth Fund, Dec. 2022). https://doi.org/10.26099/z7dz-8211

 

We are deeply saddened by the closure of our former MOCADSV member agency, the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project, which leaves Kansas City and the surrounding area without domestic and sexual violence resources specifically aimed at serving the LGBTQ+ community. However, other crisis resources and LGBTQ+ organizations still exist in the area.

The list below is from an article in the Kansas City Star. 

Kansas City Resources:

  • MOCSA is Kansas City’s largest resource organization for survivors of sexual assault. You can contact the group’s crisis hotline at 816-531-0233 in Missouri or 913-642-0233 in Kansas.
  • Hope House is a nonprofit that operates six domestic violence shelters in the Kansas City area. You can reach it directly at 816-461-4673 or call the metro domestic violence hotline at 816-468-5463 to reach any of its shelters.
  • The Mattie Rhodes Center provides crisis counseling services primarily in Spanish to Kansas City families. Its services include domestic violence intervention and mental health counseling. You can contact the center at 816-241-3780.
  • Rose Brooks is a domestic violence shelter that also accommodates pets. You can call its 24-hour crisis hotline at 816-861-6100.
  • Pride Haven is an overnight shelter for LGBTQ+ people ages 18-24 experiencing homelessness or facing an unsafe situation at home. The shelter provides housing and job search assistance, medical and mental health referrals, and other services. You can contact the shelter 24/7 by calling 816-931-0602.
  • Our Spot KC is a nonprofit group that coordinates housing assistance, hosts events, and distributes meals and personal care items to those in need. It includes Lion House, a transitional housing program for LGBTQ youth. You can contact the organization by calling 913-303-8664.
  • Synergy Services is a domestic violence and youth crisis resource center based in Parkville. Teens and young adults can call its youth crisis hotline at 816-741-8700 or 888-233-1639 to learn about its services, which include a shelter for runaway and homeless youth.
  • Newhouse is a domestic violence shelter in Kansas City that also provides therapy services, court advocacy, and transitional housing. You can call the shelter at 816-471-5800.
  • Safehome is a domestic violence shelter and nonprofit located in Overland Park. You can call its 24-hour hotline at 913-262-2868.

To find service providers across the state of Missouri, visit our How To Get Help page. 

Updated on May 19, 2022 – Even-numbered years are typically viewed as the most important election years and typically have the largest voter turnout, because of presidential and congressional elections. Alternately, the 2022 election year is known as the “mid-term” because the president is not on the ballot but some congressional delegates are decided. The mid-term August primary, and November general elections, generally have the second-largest voter turnouts due to congressional elections.

U.S. Census and Where You Vote

The U.S. Census counts every 10 years. Redistricting of congressional and state house/senate district maps occurs to adjust accordingly to population changes. Each district is drawn to represent a similar number of citizens.

Missouri is currently behind on redistricting to adjust to the 2020 Census data because the Missouri legislature failed to establish new districts before the last day of the primary election candidate filing on March 29th. The new district maps should be in effect before the August 2nd primary election. Below are details regarding where Missouri currently is in the redistricting process. MOCADSV will keep you apprised of changes. 

Redistricting Process 

The U.S. Senate is comprised of 50 members. Each state has two Senators who represent the entire state, therefore, district maps are not needed. Long-time U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) is not running for re-election in 2022. The U.S. Senate primary and general elections will be important because Missouri will have a new U.S. Senator starting January 2023.

The U.S. House of Representatives is comprised of 435 members. The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 set the total number of House members at 435 rather than continuing to increase with population. Each state is awarded a number of U.S. House districts based on the most recent census data/population and divided between 435 seats. Missouri currently has eight U.S. House districts which remain unchanged with the 2020 Census, although we held nine seats prior to the 2010 Census. 

This is also a year when state legislators are either running for re-election or are term-limited from running again in the Missouri House or Senate. Sixteen out of 163 Missouri House members are term-limited, and six out of 34 Missouri Senators are term-limited. Additionally, there are vacant House districts that need to be filled. Some legislators are running for re-election in a part of the state that is new to them due to state redistricting.

State and federal redistricting maps are available here:

This is an important election year. Check any changes to your federal or state voting district(s) for the 2022 elections, and check your voter registration on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website.

If you are interested to view your sample ballot for any election, you can contact your local election authority.

U.S. House of Representatives (Congressional) Redistricting Map 

Summary

The Missouri General Assembly determines the Congressional districts and they passed a new congressional map before the 2022 legislative session ended. On May 18, 2022, Governor Parson signed the map into law, HB 2909 (Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial), which immediately went into effect because of the emergency clause. The new map will be in place during the 2022 midterm election. No action has been taken, but there is a possibility there could be a legal challenge to the map because Missouri’s constitution requires that districts are compact. There is speculation that the map, drawn as a 6-2 map favoring Republicans, doesn’t meet the standard and was drawn to eliminate any swing districts. 

View the Congressional map here.

The Delay

During the legislative session, the Missouri House and Senate passed bills with different versions of the maps. Both chambers needed to pass the exact same bill before it could be sent to the governor for signature. The House passed a bill without an emergency clause, while the Senate passed a different version of the bill with an emergency clause. An emergency clause means the bill takes effect on the date the governor signs the bill, rather than the standard date that laws go into effect, which is August 28th. If the bill does not include an emergency clause, then the new district maps will not take effect until after the primary election.

One point of contention was that the Senate map splits Columbia and Marshfield into two Congressional districts rather than staying in one district as historically done. The House twice requested the Senate agree to a conference committee to work out the differences. A conference committee is a temporary committee including both House and Senate members to resolve differences between the legislation and send an agreed upon bill back to both chambers for a final vote. Right before session ended, both chambers were able to come to an agreement and pass the congressional map.

Approved Missouri House Redistricting Map Available

The House Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission (HIBCC) released its redistricting map by the deadline to establish a new House district map. You can identify if there are changes to the Missouri House district number(s) that will represent you and/or your agency’s service area.  

Approved Missouri Senate Redistricting Map Available

The Missouri Independent Bipartisan Citizens Commission (SIBCC) failed to meet the deadline to establish a new Senate district map. Therefore, the Judiciary Redistricting Commission was established. It was a panel of judges who were tasked to determine the Senate redistricting map. The Commission filed its recommendations to the Secretary of State in March. You can identify if there are changes to the Missouri Senate district number(s) that will represent you and/or your agency’s service area.