Bill Expanding Protections For More Victims Of Domestic Abuse Faces Uphill Battle

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Protesters have taken the pleas for stronger domestic violence legislation to the State House, pushing for movement on bill H.3210, which would expand those qualifications to protect more victims and survivors of intimate partner violence.

About half of the reports of intimate partner violence in South Carolina, including murder and assault, are between people who are dating. Per information from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), those reports come at a much higher rate than between people who are married, share a child, or live together, yet people in a dating relationship do not currently qualify to receive the same domestic abuse protections as other groups.

According to a study commissioned by the Jamie Kimble Foundation for Courage, 82,739 South Carolinians each year will be victims of intimate partner violence. Alarmingly, our state has consistently ranked within the top 10 states for the rate of female homicide in each of the past 17 years. The report further states that South Carolina ranks seventh among all states with respect to the percentage of females who experienced intimate partner violence at some point during their lifetimes.

A bipartisan bill moving through the South Carolina House of Representatives would expand qualifications to protect more victims and survivors of intimate partner violence. The ‘Protection from Domestic Abuse Act’ would ensure that same sex couples and people who are dating but don’t live together would get the same protections under the law as married couples and those who living under the same roof. Dr. Sonya Lewis CEO of My Sister’s Voice calls this legislation “critical” in SC, and something they have been fighting for nearly two years.

Most bills, including this one, have to be passed in one chamber of the State House within the next month, or they will die. This legislation must be approved twice more in the House of Representatives in order to beat that deadline at which time it would head to the Senate for its consideration.

Despite this group’s support, the plan has a long way to go. State representative Leon Howard says there’s a chance it might not pass in the house in time for the senate to consider the proposal this year. “We’re cautiously optimistic, we have so much legislation that’s running ahead of it,” said Howard.

The proposal still needs to be pushed through a subcommittee then a full committee and to the house floor before it can even be considered in the senate. That has to happen by mid-April, so this proposal faces an uphill battle right now.