H.R. No. 1278
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Communities across the state and around the country
are observing April 2019 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month; and
WHEREAS, Established in 2001 by the National Sexual Violence
Resource Center, the event was officially recognized by President
Barack Obama eight years later to remind Americans of the shocking
prevalence of this crime; and
WHEREAS, In the U.S., one in three women and one in six men
experience some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime,
and 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men are raped; rape is the most
underreported crime, and over 60 percent of sexual assaults are not
reported to the police; similarly, a quarter of all girls and a
sixth of all boys are sexually abused before the age of 18, but only
12 percent of child sexual abuse is ever disclosed to the
authorities; and
WHEREAS, Annually, crimes of sexual violence cost the
U.S. billions of dollars, and health care costs are shown to be 16
percent higher for women who were sexually abused as children and 36
percent higher for women who suffered both physical and sexual
abuse in childhood; and
WHEREAS, Vigilance against sexual assault is crucial to the
safety and well-being of Texans, and this observance provides an
opportunity to learn more about prevention while saluting those who
work every day to eliminate this crime; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 86th Texas
Legislature hereby recognize April 2019 as Sexual Assault Awareness
Month in Texas.
Neave
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 1278 was adopted by the House on April
26, 2019, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House