In my last blog entry, I talked about how we, as survivors of sexual assault, are not alone.
What concerns me, as I have begun to speak publicly about my experience and what it’s like to go through life living what I have lived as a survivor, is that there are so many young people in this country who are living through the same hell that I’ve gone through — and so little is being done about it.
The Centers for Disease Control has determined that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually assaulted before their 18th birthday. If you do the math, that’s about 20 percent of our population of young people who will have been subjected to this horrible crime – and who knows how many more are hiding what has happened to them?
Something must be done, and there is a young lady in Illinois who is making it her life’s work to do something about it.
Erin Merryn was twice a victim of sexual assault – first at the hands of the uncle of a childhood friend on her first-ever sleepover, and later at the hands of a cousin who assaulted her for two years before she decided to take action.
Merryn has helped craft “Erin’s Law” and is working to get it passed in all 50 states. At this writing, eight states have signed the legislation into law (including Arkansas, where a legislative committee was so moved by her testimony that they basically whipped the legislation through to the full Arkansas Legislature and got it passed in days, where most legislation takes months to approve). Another 18 states have it, or legislation similar to it, under consideration during the 2014 legislative year.
“Erin’s Law” requires schools in that state to provide age-appropriate curriculum for kids on sexual abuse, starting in preschool. Kids are educated on safe/unsafe touch, safe/unsafe secrets and “how to get away and tell today.” Her home state of Illinois first passed the law in 2011, with Missouri following later that year. Since then, it has become law in Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Arkansas, Mississippi and is soon to become law in Nevada.

Here in Nebraska, I’ve talked with my state senator, Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins, and he has sponsored LB143, which got out of committee during the 2013 session of the Nebraska Unicameral but did not get to the floor for consideration. I like to refer to LB143 as “Erin’s Law Lite,” as it does not require school districts to provide this curriculum. Instead, the bill requires the state’s Department of Education to craft a template that schools would have the option to use for developing this curriculum.
It’s not enough, however, to give school districts the “option” to determine whether or not their children need to be instructed on a topic that is of vital importance to their young lives. When 20 percent of the kids in this country are facing a life of hell as a survivor of sexual abuse, they need to be made aware of what is right or wrong and how to, as Merryn states, get away and tell today.
Nebraska isn’t the only state that’s dragging their feet on this issue. The state of New York has several influential individuals within their state legislature and the department of education who, for reasons logical thought can’t seem to grasp, are trying to put up a brick wall to keep Erin’s Law from becoming the law in New York. Although it passed the state’s Senate in April of 2012, it is still waiting to get through the House and to the governor’s desk for final passage.
Other states that has Erin’s Law under consideration include Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah. On the erinslaw.org website, it states that Erin “intends to lobby legislators in all 50 states until they all pass Erin’s Law.”
If your state isn’t on the list of states who have passed or are considering Erin’s Law, I invite you to check out erinslaw.org, which tells the story about the law, what is being done and provides a lot of useful information. Erin is out speaking about the topic on a national level, and will come to your state to lobby for the legislation.
One of my goals for 2014 is to make sure Erin Merryn comes to Nebraska to get the Legislature moving toward passage of LB143, as well as making an effort to upgrade that law and make it mandatory, not optional, for schools to educate their children about safe/unsafe touch, safe/unsafe secrets and how to “get away and tell today.” Our children shouldn’t have to live with the hell that we, as survivors, have been through. When 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are being sexually abused in this country, something has to be done, starting with the education of our kids. Erin’s Law needs to become THE law in all 50 states. Eight are on board . . . and I’m not going to sit back and let Nebraska wait to be among the next to join that list.