Written for The Texas Observer legislative blog "Floor Pass."
Margarita Sanchez went to San Antonio’s Family Violence Prevention Services in May 2011 seeking shelter from an abusive husband. She had just been released from the hospital after her husband assaulted her. It wasn’t the first time Sanchez had been threatened by her now ex-husband. He had drowned her dog and forced her to quit her job. She wasn’t allowed to contact family or friends, and she wasn’t allowed to leave the home without him. “He slapped me against the wall several times and stabbed me,” Sanchez recalled Wednesday at the Capitol, in a plea for lawmakers to fund the sort of legal aid she needed to finally get free. With help from Family Violence Prevention Services, Sanchez was able to divorce her husband and get a protective order. “I was homeless, jobless and injured,” Sanchez said. “Had I not been given a free attorney I have no idea if I would be here today.” Julia Rainey Rodriguez, the center’s director of legal services, said that while Sanchez’s story is shocking, it’s not unusual for Texas. “There are many, many more that never walk through the doors of my agency that I never meet and that I have no idea what happened to,” she said. Read more.