NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- Nashville’s Sexual Assault Center says it’s seen a 500 percent increase in call volume since last week’s Senate hearings into allegations of sexual assault by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Dr. Christine Ford told Senators Thursday morning that Kavanaugh had assaulted her when the two were in high school.
“It was hard for me to breathe and I thought that Brett was going to accidently kill me. Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack.”
Judge Kavanaugh vehemently died the allegations Thursday afternoon.
“If every American who drinks beer, or every American who drank beer in high school is suddenly presumed guilty of sexual, we’ll be in an ugly new place in this country. I never committed sexual assault.”
Sexual Assault Center President Rachel Freeman notes that calls to the organization's crisis hotline jumped from an average of five or six a day to about 28 calls a day. She says the rancor surrounding Dr. Ford's testimony has clearly hit the mid-state survivor community hard.
“Hearing the whole country respond one way or another to her testimony has been very emotionally exhausting to people.”
Freeman says if you’re an assault survivor struggling right now, reach out to someone that you know will support you; family, friends, or a crisis-line counselor.
She also emphasizes that we all know a survivor, even if we’re not aware of it.
“One-in-four girls and one-in-six boys will be sexually abused before they’re 18. One-in-six women experience rape or attempted rape at some point in their lives as do 1-in-17 boys.
If you’d like to reach out to the Assault Center, you can find them online at sacenter.org. You can also dial the crisis line at 800-879-1999.