[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24859]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
recognize Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Unfortunately, domestic 
violence continues to be a major threat facing women of all ages. The 
most conservative estimate indicated that each year 2 to 4 million 
women are battered or beaten, and nearly 200,000 of these cases are 
serious enough to require hospitalization or emergency room use.
  While there are many support groups and organizations dedicated to 
helping people of domestic violence, there are still those who would 
seek to undercut these services.
  Recently, a lawsuit was filed by the National Coalition of Free Men 
who claimed that 10 shelters in Southern California provided services 
to abused and battered women and were engaging in unlawful sex 
discrimination because they did not accept men at their shelters. The 
California Women's Law Center and the law firm of O'Melveny & Meyers 
represented a majority of these shelters, pro bono, and successfully 
argued that this lawsuit had no merit.
  While it is important to provide services for all abused and battered 
persons, it is equally important that these services not be denied to 
those who need it the most, women and children who are the most 
vulnerable to these attacks.

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