7.

That number keeps running through my head. Not because it’s a statistic, but because of what it represents: every single time a woman is turned away, dismissed, and pushed right back into danger by a system that promises to protect her.
How many times does someone have to ask for help before we actually listen? Right now, survivors who find the courage to walk out the door are too often met with skepticism, cold indifference, or lines like "at least he didn't hit you." We pretend that remaining neutral "keeps the peace." It doesn't. Neutrality in the face of abuse is just silence—and that silence is deafening.
This isn't an isolated problem, and it doesn't stay behind closed doors. Every time a survivor is minimized or told her experience wasn't "bad enough," we send a clear message: leaving is lonelier than staying. Worse, we teach abusers that they can count on doubt, delays, and system loopholes to keep control. Survivors shouldn't have to spend what little energy they have left fighting the very people paid to protect them.
We need to fix the first line of response.
I am calling on our local police departments to implement mandatory, survivor-centered domestic violence response training for every officer. We need enforced protocols that require officers to properly document coercive control, connect survivors directly with advocates, and treat repeated non-physical harm for the severe danger it is. A person shouldn't have to perform their trauma using precise legal phrasing just to be believed. When officers step onto the scene, their response either helps a survivor break free—or sends her right back into hell.
Inaction isn't neutral. When the system fails to protect a survivor, it chooses her abuser's side.
Sign this petition today to demand law enforcement responses that believe survivors, enforce real protection, and stop meeting abuse with indifference.