The Bahamas Crisis Centre (BCC) is calling on the government to develop a comprehensive domestic and sexual violence act which looks at all issues where persons are not protected under the law.
In a statement, the BCC said that while every Bahamian has the right to live a life free from violence and be protected under the law, “in today’s Bahamas, married women living with their husbands do not experience this protection when that husband beats or psychologically abuses them.
“We understand and accept the notion that beating or abusing a married woman is wrong but somehow, we close our eyes or refuse to accept that they can be sexually assaulted by their husbands. In the same way that a husband beats or murders his wife, he can also rape her. “
The BCC said that it has heard stories of women forced to have sex with their husbands despite their obstetrician’s advice to abstain following the birth of a baby, women getting HIV or sexually transmitted diseases from abusive husbands who have other women and force sex on them.
