RAPE IS RAPE: SIGN NOW TO END CALIFORNIA'S SPOUSAL RAPE LOOPHOLE

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RAPE IS RAPE: SIGN NOW TO END CALIFORNIA'S SPOUSAL RAPE LOOPHOLE

Governor Gavin Newsom

All year we've been asking: Spousal Rape Exceptions can’t be a thing in 2021...can they? These days that kind of law, essentially defining a wife as her husband’s sexual property, is unimaginable, right? Wrong...but not for long.

California remains one of a small handful of states that continue to distinguish spousal rape from non-spousal rape and treat it as a far less serious crime, but thanks to your tremendous support our state is rounding into the home stretch to pass our bill addressing the loophole, AB 1171.

Governor Newsom: SIGN AB 1171 INTO LAW. We can’t think of a better way for California to once again lead the nation on equality than to take another big step towards ending this 50-year-old wrong.

Sign AB 1171 NOW!

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Enough is Enough Voter Project

To: Governor Gavin Newsom
From: alexa kupor

Dear Governor Newsom,

I write to ask you to sign AB 1171, which has been passed by both chambers of the California Legislature and sent to you for your signature. This bill addresses the antiquated distinction in California law between rape of a spouse and rape of a non-spouse. Rape is universally acknowledged as a crime of violence that is both physically and psychologically harmful to the victim.

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), between 10-14% of married women have been or may experience rape by their spouse. Additionally, 18% of these victims state their children have witnessed the rape. When spousal rape is not treated as seriously as other forms of rape, it invalidates the victims’ traumatic experiences and continues to promote rape culture. Moreover, a rapist should not be shielded from accountability simply because the rapist is married to the victim. Regardless of the relationship, rape is rape.

California is one of a small handful of states that continues to distinguish between rape (PC 261) and spousal rape (PC 262), with lesser accountability for the latter. Our bill to remedy this inequality has the support of a broad coalition of criminal justice reformers (including the Prosecutor’s Alliance); women's organizations like the National Organization for Women, and the CA Commission on the Status of Women and Girls; sexual violence service providers such as CalCasa (now VALOR); advocacy organizations such as Joyful Heart; organized labor (including the South Bay Labor Council AFL-CIO and labor leader and legend Dolores Huerta) and elected officials including Lt. Governor Kounalakis and former Labor Secretary and LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis (who led an earlier unsuccessful effort to eliminate all distinctions between spousal rape and rape in 1993.) In addition, the Los Angeles County, San Francisco County, and Santa Clara County Democratic Parties and many Democratic Clubs are standing behind this bill.

For the above reasons, I support this important legislation. We ask that you swiftly sign AB 1171 into law and ensure we recognize that rape is rape, regardless of the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator.