May 13th: Progress in Consent Legislature

Establishing a state-wide definition of consent is the first step in battling rape culture and developing legal protections for survivors. Women4Change is thrilled to announce that legally defining consent is one of the Indiana Legislative Council’s interim study committee topics for Summer 2020.

This update means that the issue of consent is a priority in legislators’ minds, and vastly increases the likelihood that a bill legally defining consent will be passed in the next legislative session.

Throughout the 2020 Legislative Session, Women4Change advocated strongly to define consent—and you have helped further this cause by using our OneClick politics tool to contact your local legislators and bring this issue to their attention. Thank you for making this issue a priority for Indiana legislators!

Unfortunately, two other W4C legislative priorities—paid leave and pregnancy accommodations—were not selected for interim study. As members of the Equality Pay$ Coalition, we are deeply disappointed that legislators have failed to address the importance of paid family leave. We share the disappointment of the Indiana Institute for Working Families and agree wholeheartedly that this is a missed opportunity to study the relative costs and benefits of accommodating pregnant workers.

We are encouraged by the success of raising consent to the forefront of legislators’ minds, however, and want to thank you for doing your part to make this issue a legislative priority! This is a step in the right direction, and we will continue to push in hope of passing comprehensive consent legislation in the 2021 Indiana General Assembly.