Sexual battery of a spouse is legal in Kansas. Lawmakers are trying again to change law

Kansas lawmakers are starting their second attempt in two years to repeal a law that allows husbands and wives to sexually batter their spouse without fear of criminal consequences.

After a 2019 bill failed, supporters of eliminating the law are once again taking their case to the Legislature and hoping for a different outcome.

“Permitting the statute to remain as currently written sends a message to perpetrators that they can sexually violate their spouses and will not be held accountable,” Mary Stafford, a Kansas social worker who advocates for domestic violence survivors, said.

Marital rape is illegal in Kansas. But other non-consensual sexual contact between spouses isn’t always a crime.

Kansas law defines sexual battery as touching a victim without consent with the “intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of the offender or another.” The law notes that the crime occurs when “a victim is not the spouse of the offender” and is older than 16.

The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Monday and voted unanimously to send a fresh, identical bill to the full House. No one spoke in opposition.

The committee also approved last year’s bill, but it died in February because legislative leaders didn’t advance it before a procedural deadline.

Rep. Brett Parker, an Overland Park Democrat who introduced the 2019 measure, said he doesn’t know why it died and was never given an explanation.

“I think it’s all the more frustrating that it was brought to people’s attention a year ago and no action was taken but we’re optimistic this time that we’ll get the right thing done,” Parker said.

Rep. Fred Patton, a Topeka Republican who chairs the committee, also said he doesn’t know what happened. But he said timing can play a factor, adding that lawmakers considered a lot of bills ahead of last year’s deadline.

House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said in a statement that the 2019 session was the first in a two-year cycle. The Legislature meets for two years between elections.

“As always, many important issues faced legislators when they came to Topeka last year,” Hawkins said. “Whether it’s because of timing or the urgency with which other issues must be handled, most bills simply don’t make it through the process in a single year.”

Hawkins said the House Judiciary Committee will take another look at the issue this year and “we’ll see what comes out of committee.”

The committee advanced the bill swiftly on Monday after hearing from supporters -- dispensing with a typical waiting period of at least a day.

Michelle McCormick, program director at the YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment, said in an email that in her experience, based on working with victims and survivors, that the use of sexual violence is common in abusive marriages. She said in written testimony to lawmakers that she was “stunned” to learn about Kansas’s current law.

Exactly how often spouses are sexually battered in Kansas isn’t known. Victims’ advocates say instances of violence often go unreported. The Kansas Sentencing Commission said the bill may have an impact on prison admissions but that it couldn’t provide an estimate.

About 18 percent of women experience sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime, according to National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey data from 2015.

Victoria Pickering, director of advocacy at the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, or MOCSA, told lawmakers that removing the spousal exemption in the sexual battery law holds both practical and symbolic importance. It sends a “clear message” to Kansans that violence is no less harmful when it happens at the hands of someone the victim loves and trusts, she said.

And it provides prosecutors and law enforcement another tool to use hold perpetrators accountable, she said.

Pickering recounted how when she first became a MOCSA volunteer 15 years ago she was taught that Kansas still had a spousal exemption in its sexual battery law. She recalled how after training that day she told her friends about the law, saying “Can you believe this?”

“I was shocked. I was saddened,” Pickering said. “I was a Kansas resident at the time and it means the world to me that this committee is hearing this bill and that we might actually be able to be a part of the solution.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Sexual battery of a spouse is legal in Kansas. Lawmakers are trying again to change law."