Across the country, homicide is among the leading causes of death for women under age 45, and most women who are murdered are killed by a current or former partner. For Black women, this danger is compounded by economic instability, too few support services built for those who need them most, and a justice system many fear as much or more than their abusers.
The toll is rising across Ohio, where the most recent year was the deadliest on record. In its 10th Annual Fatality Report, the Ohio Domestic Violence Network counted 157 intimate partner-related fatalities between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025 — a 38% increase over the previous 12-month period and the largest loss of life since ODVN began compiling the report. Women represented more than 82% of the primary victims, 56% of whom were people of color.
While Black women in Ohio make up about 14% of the population, they account for 31% to 33% of domestic violence victimizations statewide. Nationally, the disparity runs all the way to its most lethal end: the CDC found that Black women are killed by intimate partners at more than twice the rate of white women. Why does this harm fall so unequally?
Violence against Black women in America has deep roots. Their experiences were long left uncounted, their perpetrators unprosecuted, and the women treated as invisible even as they shaped the country’s history. But the cycle can be broken.
In ODVN’s 2022 Seeking Safety, Equity & Justice survey results, survivors said the following would make them feel safer when reaching for help:
• Responders and advocates who reflect and understand their communities
• Anti-bias and de-escalation training
• Family courts that weigh a respondent’s history of abusive behavior in decision-making
Some of those changes are beginning to take shape in law. One such reform, Senate Bill 174, sponsored by northwest Ohio senators Paula Hicks-Hudson and Theresa Gavarone, would let courts weigh a parent’s history of violence in custody decisions; it has passed the Ohio Senate and awaits action in the House.
Locally, Bethany House survivors remind us that being met by people who understand their experience can be the difference between trusting help and fearing it. Representation is more than symbolic; it’s how we build safer systems for everyone. It is fitting, then, that Bethany House recently welcomed its first-ever Executive Director of color.
Policy and services matter. So does refusing to look away. The more openly we name this violence and remember the women it has taken, the harder it becomes to ignore.
This October, our community will gather to remember the women and girls northwest Ohio has lost to intimate partner violence. Bethany House will host the 25th Annual Northwest Ohio Silent Witness Project Unveiling Ceremony on Thursday, October 8 at 6 p.m. in the McMaster Center at the Main Branch Toledo Lucas County Public Library in downtown Toledo. For a quarter century, the project’s silhouettes have stood in for lives cut short, insisting they not be forgotten. The truest way to honor them is to count who we are losing and to build a community where the next woman who reaches for help finds it waiting, without fear.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, these resources can help. Service providers can also download our Referral Packet here.