U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) helped lead a bipartisan group of 32 congressional members in urging President Joe Biden to create a position of Special Advisor on Sexual Violence within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“It would make clear to the nation that we must act upon a painful reality: that sexual violence in America has become a public health crisis,” wrote Rep. Joyce and his colleagues, who included U.S. Reps. John Katko (R-NY), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rodney Davis (R-IL), Don Bacon (R-NE), Mark Amodei (R-NV), and Annie Kuster (D-NH).
In their March 9 letter sent to President Biden, Rep. Joyce and the members noted how such a position would be “an unprecedented and important step” to coordinate and strengthen how the federal government responds to sexual violence and supports survivors.
For instance, the estimated lifetime cost of rape is $122,461 for each survivor, who may suffer conditions including depression, post-traumatic stress, joint conditions, cervical cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, and heart disease, according to the lawmakers’ letter, which pointed out that sexual violence also may contribute to substance use and other health crises that HHS addresses as part of its mission.
“Establishing a special advisor focused on these concerns would provide a critical launching pad for HHS to develop new and innovative strategies to combat sexual violence from a health perspective,” Rep. Joyce and his colleagues wrote. “There is so much more we can do to ensure survivors can safely and affordably access not only physical care, but also the mental health care they need in order to begin to heal from the trauma of sexual violence.”
Rep. Joyce, a former prosecutor of 25 years, has made combatting sexual violence a top priority in Congress and in 2017 co-founded the U.S. House of Representatives’ Bipartisan Task Force to End Sexual Violence.
The letter is supported by Sondra Miller, president and CEO of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, and Rosa Beltré, executive director of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence.