Spousal Rape Bill Going Nowhere - Still Legal to Rape Your Wife in TN - Ac

[Egalia]

The ten year fight to get Tennessee legislators to take the crime of spousal rape seriously is still going nowhere. The state’s good old boy legislature (83% male) still doesn’t get it! According to today’s editorial in the Tennessean, “lawmakers are straining to find excuses to let the bill fail again this year.”

As I wrote in an earlier post,

A bill that would remove the spousal exemption from the state's rape law is before the TN legislature - for the tenth year in a row. It's not illegal for a man to rape his wife in this state unless he "uses a weapon, causes her serious bodily injury, or they are separated or divorcing."

When wife rape does qualify as a crime, the law treats it as a less serious crime than the rape of any other woman.

"If he held a knife to throat or beat her to a pulp while he did it, he could be looking at up to 15 years in prison. If he did the same thing to someone he never met before or even his girlfriend, he would face up to 60 years behind bars."

To date, the Tennessean is the only newspaper in the state to take a stand on this bill, or even to provide coverage (via Google search).


There's more at the link below, including a way for you to help persusade lawmakers to take this issue seriously (they'll be going home soon!). Please help.


http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2005/05/spousal-rape-bill-going-nowhere-still.html

[madrchsod]

1. woman is suppos`d to

sumit to her husbin..it in the bibel`.yup,weze good christean folks her in tennessea.

[FreedomAngel82]

2. So it appears

that Jeff Miller in the state Senate can pass a "marriage protection act" and the next day get a divorce from having an affair with his aide but nobody will pass this bill to help protect wives? So I guess it's okay if a husband now beats and abuses her. AHH!!!!!!!