Reports that Nicole Brown Simpson had lived with domestic violence - before she died a violent death - are spurring women across the country to seek help for spouse abuse.
"People are realizing you can lose your life, and our phones are ringing off the hook," says Cinnamon Smith, head of New Orleans' YWCA Battered Women's Program.
"But I'm sorry that someone had to die" to embolden battered women and arouse the nation's conscience.
Records show that during Nicole and O.J. Simpson's seven-year marriage, police were summoned nine times by Nicole Simpson's claims of abuse. In a 1989 case, he pleaded no contest to beating her. Police also were called to Nicole Simpson's condo last October.
The abuse revelations tripped an avalanche of discussion and publicity about domestic violence.
That public drumbeat is starting to spur action:
-- States are rushing to toughen spousal abuse laws. In New York Tuesday, state legislators reached agreement on a bill that would require police to arrest suspected spouse-beaters. The New Jersey Assembly on Monday passed a package of six domestic violence bills drafted in the past year. Lawmakers in California are renewing a push for proposals to hold defendants in spousal abuse cases longer and set up a registry of restraining orders.
The National Center for Women and Family Law says 26 states already have some form of mandatory arrest law in domestic violence cases.
-- A Capitol Hill rally Wednesday demanded that the crime bill before Congress include the Violence Against Women Act, which would provide $ 1.8 billion for prevention.
While politicians strategize, victims seek their own ways out of the violence that experts say touches 2.5 million women annually.
It's not as simple as just divorcing an abusive spouse, calling police or moving to a shelter, experts say. Women may be so cowed by abuse that they feel they somehow deserve it.
Or if they do call 911 or try to leave, they may face greater rage from an abusive partner.
Still, since Nicole Simpson's death, many are taking steps:
-- In Dayton, Ohio, a YWCA shelter that can accommodate 15 people is now sheltering 22 women and children, and "crisis calls" to a domestic violence hot line are up 15%, says program official Janine Poppa.
-- In Dallas, the Family Place shelter logged 37 calls during the weekend after the slaying - a 230% increase over the previous weekend.
Sometimes "a high-profile incident like this . . . prompts the victim to reach out for help," says executive program director Sharon Obregon.
-- In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the crisis line at Women In Distress of Broward County has seen "a 30% increase in calls on the crisis line" since the Simpson case hit the news, says president Bonnie Flynn.
Funding already was scarce for the shelter and other services, Flynn says, so "I'm concerned about our ability to handle this response. But we're going to do our best for them."
At the Harbor House shelter in Appleton, Wis., advocate Diana Block says the Simpson case has drawn attention - but she says it's also inspiring backlash.
"Already it's becoming a source for jokes," she says. If spouse abuse becomes a matter for cynicism or ridicule, "it may actually make it more unsafe for a woman to come forward."
At the Appleton shelter, Block says, "there's a lot of anger coming out."
"We feel sad for that woman and what she went through, but she doesn't have an isolated story. There's one woman every hour who's living the same story."
Abuse common, unreported
A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll shows that many people have witnessed incidents of abuse against women. The results compare with those in a 1991 poll:
Many know of incident of abuse
Know Don't know
1991 48% 51%
Now 49% 50%
Most would report abuser
Would speak to abuser 64%
Would report abuser to police 72%
Most say police don't protect women enough from abuse
Do Don't
1991 31% 60%
Now 25% 68%
Most say court lenient in 1989 abuse charges against O.J. Simpson
Lenient 64%
Did right 14%
Many say tragedy would have been avoided with stronger steps in 1989
