PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Nearly one in ten children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday, yet most kids are never taught what to do if someone touches them inappropriately.
There’s a new push to get Arizona to join 38 other states in passing what’s known as “Erin’s Law.”
The law is named after the woman whose nonprofit has pushed to bring sexual abuse education into public schools across the nation.
Erin Merryn says Arizona is behind the curve, so she came here in person this year to share her story with lawmakers.
“Everybody knows somebody that this has happened to. You just might not know their name because they’re keeping it secret,” she said.
Merryn endured sexual abuse as a young girl and kept silent.
“I look back to memories before the abuse began and what a happy child I was and how I trusted people,” she said. “The only reason I spoke up was because my 11-year-old sister came to me with the same secret.”
She now lobbies lawmakers across the country and, for 16 years, has been advocating for public schools to be required to teach kids how to talk about abuse.
“This is teaching kids personal body safety, not the birds and the bees,” she explained.
The bill has been introduced in nearly every state, but Erin’s Law has been met with resistance in Arizona.
“I’ve gotten it passed in 38 states, but Arizona’s been killing the bill since 2018,” she said.
Merryn hopes that changes this year with the support from State Sen. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix), who introduced the bill in the Education Committee on Wednesday.
“This is literally giving kids the tools to speak up and tell,” she explained. “Erin’s Law teaches the grooming patterns to kids and put a stop to it right away.”
If it becomes law, schools would be required to spend one hour per year teaching kids how to spot and speak out about sexual abuse.
“Why is it okay that we teach tornado drills, bus drills, fire drills? We teach stranger danger. We do the lockdown drills because of all the school shootings, but there are more kids being abused in this country than being shot at in a school mass shooting,” Merryn stated.
Because she knows the personal pain sex abuse causes, she doesn’t plan to stop pushing for legislation any time soon.
“You are literally saving lives by teaching kids this because so many kids grow up and go down a very destructive path if they suffer years and years of abuse,” she said.
Bolick says she’s working with state leaders to address any concerns with the bill and is open to amendments before it gets voted on next week.
It must pass the Senate and House before being sent to the governor.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
发表回复