Instead of alleviating the violence, Judy's husband beat her unconscious in front of her mother and children. Instead of pressing charges for abuse, the sheriff told Judy's father that it would ruin Karl's (Judy's husband) career. Judy's parents didn't want to send her to a shelter because they were nervous it would embarrass the family name. So Judy did escape the abuse but also had to change her typical lifestyle from little things like changing where she shopped for groceries to not going to educational conferences because Karl would be there. Mandy Winchester didn't leave because her abuse wasn't easy to prove to the public. She was sexually and emotionally abused daily but without physical evidence a case wasn't easy. Her family and friends felt she found the perfect husband and had the perfect family. In reality, Mandy was sexually degraded and verbally abused every day by her so-called perfect husband. He was a lawyer and financially took care of the family. Mandy knew it would be close to impossible to accuse and convict a successful lawyer of domestic violence especially without any support from family. She ended up divorcing her husband and settling out of court. She admits that the only reason she lasted in her marriage so long was because of her children. .
The next section of the book moves from asking why women don't leave to the actual act of leaving. Dr. Weiss titles it "Getting Out" and it shares the escape stories of Peg McBride, Carolee Curtis, and Becky Pepper all have different stories of their escapes. Each moved at a different time and reacted in different manners but all are able to tell their stories today. A battered woman is more likely to be severely injured or killed six months after leaving the abuse. Leaving is risky and puts many women's lives at stake.
Peg McBride married a man named Ira. Ira came from a very cultured background and enjoyed the artistic culture.