SOUTH DAKOTA
South Dakota Public Broadcasting
[with audio]
By KEALEY BULTENA
Survivors of child sex abuse and advocates for those victims want lawmakers to address the abuse. Senate Bill 154 establishes a task force to study the impact of sexual abuse of children. Not one lawmaker in committee opposes the effort.
Mary Beth Holzworth is in the state Capitol for her sons. Two of her three boys survived sexual abuse.
“On June 10, 2009, my five-year-old son sat next to me and said, ‘Mom, uncle shared his germs with me.’ I had no idea what that meant and asked him to explain further. What he began to decribe was something I never thought I’d hear from one of my children. He explained how his uncle had sexually abused him, from fondling to oral sex to penetration. As a mother, nothing I’d ever heard had made me more sick,” Holzworth says.
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