One in three women in the Lone Star State will be impacted by domestic violence, according to the Texas Council on Family Violence.
SAN ANTONIO — In 2023, more than 200 Texans lost their lives because of intimate partner or stalking violence. Now, advocates are pushing for legislation in Austin with the hopes of strengthening protections for survivors while also holding offenders accountable.
“We have said we must come together to ensure that we are truly standing with survivors before there is a fatality so we are calling on the legislature to have a lethality task force,” said Molly Voyles, public policy director with the Texas Council on Family Violence.
One in three Texas women are bound to be affected by some level of domestic violence, according to TCFV.
Voyles envisions a task force made up of advocates from across the state that would brainstorm ways of reducing domestic violence deaths over the next couple. Such proposals that came out of the task force would then be presented during the next legislative session in 2027.
“We would focus the task force on the top three known lethality factors for survivors. Strangulation, stalking and the presence of a firearm in a home where there is also domestic violence,” Voyles said.
House Bill 1332 would bolster dating violence policies within schools that Voyles noted have been in place 2007.
“For so many survivors a law that has been put on the books their entire life, they have never received that education and so it would place that circular tie and it would ensure survivors get the support they need,” Voyles said.
Marta Pelaez, president and CEO of Family Violence Prevention Services in San Antonio, also emphasized the need importance of school-based education on teen dating violence.
“Teen dating violence, it is on the rise. It is not one in three as it is with the adults, it is one in two,” Pelaez said. “They need different curriculum and programming, they need to make sure that they’re supported in schools.”
Pelaez is also advocating for more money to be allotted for abuser intervention services and additional affordable housing for victims and their families.
“Self-sufficiency and the independence of the victims of domestic violence begin with having a place that they can call their very own home. The shelter is good for that only on a temporary basis,” Pelaez said.
February marks Teen Dating Violence Awareness month.
On Thursday, FVPS’s Youth Advisory Council will travel to Austin and lobby state lawmakers to fund domestic violence prevention.