Evan Rachel Wood, 32, says speaking out about her past abusive relationship was not an easy decision but it was an important one.
“I was ready to go to my grave with what had happened to me, until I realized that the person who had hurt me had also hurt a number of other women. That changed everything for me,” she says.
Kayt Jones
She decided to take her evidence of abuse to an attorney but was told there was nothing she could do because the statute of limitations on her case had run out.
“I said, ‘That doesn’t sound right. Something’s wrong, what are my options?’ They said, ‘Well, you can try to change the law.'”
So that’s just what she did. After teaming up with legislators, lawmakers and other domestic violence survivors, Wood wrote and created thePhoenix Act, a bill that extends the time victims have to come forward and get justice.
“My goal in doing this was to make sure that what happened to me couldn’t happen to anybody else, if they were in my situation. And to start a dialogue that we so desperately need, because it’s a global epidemic, and it affects men and women and children,” says Wood. “Bad things can happen to you, but you can rise out of the ashes. That is exactly why I named it the Phoenix Act. I do believe that you can come back from tragedy, sometimes even stronger than you were before.”
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
Kate Ranta, author ofKilling Kate: A Story of Turning Abuse and Tragedy into Transformation and Triumph,says Wood’s work has helped fellow domestic violence survivors like herself.
source: people.com
