A report from the gender-violence advocacy group AEquitas noted a surge of studies from the 1970s – when spousal rape was starting to enter the public discourse – which found that 10 to 14 percent of women reported being raped by their husbands.

AEquitas tracks legislation at the state and federal level to provide activists and legislators with a clearer picture of the legal roadblocks to full criminalization of marital rape. According to the group’s 2014 report, some form of marital exemption or higher standard for prosecution still exists in a handful of states.