She had been for half of her seventeen years - first by her grandfather and then later by her stepfather. But trust me - they were inhumane. She had been taken to fields, dragged into miniscule bathrooms and threatened with her life if she spoke of the sexual abuse to anyone. Melanie finally told her mom. This is just one out of 2.5 million reports of child abuse which are made annually in the United States.
Child abuse can take on many forms.
CNN reported that a Nicaraguan study showed that children of abused women were six times more likely than other children to die before the age of 5. And that is just our children. Abuse comes in other forms, such as domestic violence towards both men and women. Nearly 6 million wives will be abused by their husbands in any one year. One out of four women is severely beaten during the course of her marriage.