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Some of the 16 Finding Our Voices survivors, who publicly shared how controlling partners devastated their lives and the lives of their children, at a March 3 public hearing for a bill adding coercive control to the definition of domestic abuse to Maine law. The bill’s sponsor Holly Rae Eaton, D-Deer Isle, in the center of the photo, is flanked by Finding Our Voices survivors, from far left, Lisa Perry, Candis Veilleux, Agnes Brackett, Patrisha McLean, Christine Buckley and Pamela Gagnon da Silva, a Finding Our Voices board member. Submitted photo

AUGUSTA — Sixteen women with Finding Our Voices from York, Cumberland, Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Kennebec, Franklin and Hancock counties publicly shared details of how they and their children were terrorized psychologically by their partners, toward getting these tactics outlawed in Maine.

The testimony was for L.D. 670: An Act to Address Coercive Control in Domestic Abuse Cases, and was provided both in person at the March 3 hearing at the Augusta State House and also by written submission through the Maine State Legislature website.

Sponsored by Rep. Holly Rae Eaton, D-Deer Isle, and co-sponsored by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Cumberland, and eight other representatives, the bill would add coercive control to the definition of abuse and define the term “coercive control” in Protection From Abuse laws. The bill defines coercive control as “a pattern of behavior designed to dominate, isolate, manipulate or exploit a person who is a dating partner or a family or household member.”

Included in the description is “limiting access to finances, monitoring or restricting activities, isolating them from family and friends, intimidation and exploiting vulnerabilities,” according to a news release from Patrisha McLean, CEO and founder of Finding Our Voices.

Submitted testimony for the bill can be found at findingourvoices.net/voices.

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