In addition to my podcast EVER NEW with Hannah McCrane, I have an additional podcast gig this weekend.

The topic: the overturning of Roe V Wade (the right to access safe, legal abortions in one’s home state when necessary or desired without outside interference) by the Supreme Court. Should be interesting!

The audience for that show is mostly Latinx conservatives, as I understand it, so why Pastor Dennis Gunnarson chose me to appear is a mystery. He knows I’m a transgender LGBTQIA+ advocate and a lapsed Christian, but he is a progressive, and he wants me on the show, so I said sure. I have pasted onto a document a slew of factoids and quotes about the consequences of banning abortions in every case in numerous states, and the statistics are utterly horrifying. I knew they were bad, but listing them really brought the issue home to me.

Among the facts are these:

Every 68 seconds, someone in the US is sexually assaulted.

97 percent of women have been sexually assaulted, harassed, and/or raped at least once in their lifetime.

Four percent of the women from the survey reported the incident, 45 percent didn’t believe reporting would help change anything.

• 51% of women  report being sexually touched against their will. (NSVRC)

Source: National Sexual Violence Resource  Center

Sexual Assault Statistics 

• Women aged 25 to 34 are at the highest risk of sexual assault. (NSVRC)
• One in five women in the US has been a victim of an attempted or completed rape. (NSVRC)
• 91% of rape and sexual assault victims are female. (NSVRC)
• 63% of sexual assaults are not reported. (BJS)
• LGBTQ people face a higher risk of being sexually assaulted. (NSVRC)
• One in 10 women is a victim of marital rape. (NCADV)
• Women with disabilities are more likely to experience sexual assault, with 40% reporting such cases compared to 23% of women without disabilities. (NSVRC)
• Statistics about sexual assault show that 66% of women report some form of sexual assault in public spaces, making it the most frequent location where they’ve experienced it. (NSVRC)
• Women aged 25 to 34 are most likely to report experiencing all forms of sexual assault and harassment.

LGBT Sexual Assault Statistics

As a marginalized group, LGBTQ individuals are at higher risk of being sexually abused and more likely to face abuse from law-enforcement professionals and professionals in helping roles. These people are also more likely to be taken less seriously by the institutions that should protect them because of their sexual orientation. 

• 48% of lesbian and bisexual women report having experienced sexual assault compared with only 25% of straight women. (NSVRC)
• Statistics on rape show that professionals in “helping roles” often sexually assault transgender individuals. With 15% of them reporting sexual abuse while in police custody or jail, 5 to 9% reporting being sexually assaulted by police officers, and 10% by healthcare staff. (AVP, Transequality)
• Bisexual women have a significantly higher lifetime prevalence of rape by any perpetrator (46.1%) compared to 17.4% of heterosexual women and 13.1% of lesbian women. (CDC)
• 99.1 % of heterosexual women and 98.3% of bisexual women who faced rape report only male perpetrators. (CDC

• Transgender sexual assault statistics unveil that 6% of transgender people report being sexually assaulted by a coworker for being transgender or gender non-conforming, with a prevalence of sexual assault reaching 19% among undocumented noncitizens. (CDC)

In 31 states, rapists can get custody and visitation rights to the offspring of their victims. https://news.yahoo.com/news/31-states-allow-rapists-custody-visitation-rights-181948558.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

Even if these were the ONLY statistics to report, and they aren’t, the case for allowing women to determine their personal family planning strategies after sexual encounters, wanted or unwanted, would be unassailable. The Supreme Court has gone off the rails. The US is not a theocracy and even if it were, the Bible states that life begins at first breath, not at conception or at any other point during gestation where the fetus is incapable of independent existence.