Celebrating 26 Years of the Violence Against Women Act

Author: Abby Garber, GRVA Policy Director

In 1994, the lives of millions of women across the country changed forever. The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA), introduced and championed by then-Sen. Joe Biden from Deleware, was the first comprehensive federal bill that addressed gender-based violence such as dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The VAWA marked the first time in U.S. history that the federal government stood up to gender-based violence in the home and on the streets.

The passage of the VAWA created the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) within the Department of Justice, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and brought together the criminal justice system, the social services system, and private nonprofit organizations to respond to domestic violence and sexual assault in communities. Since its formation, the OVW has allocated more than $7 billion in grants to programs that prevent domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking, as well as aiding shelters, community programs, and studies tracking violence against women. The VAWA also concentrated on the underserved survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, such as Native American survivors.

Working to end violence against women would appear to be a bipartisan issue, but that was only true until last year. The VAWA has to be reauthorized by Congress and signed by the President every few years. In the years of 2000, 2005, and 2013, the VAWA was reauthorized with ease and was expanded on to focus on prevention strategies, nondiscrimination clauses, including children and teenagers, to name a few. In 2019, the Democrats took on the project of expanding the VAWA once again. One of the issues they chose to focus on is the critical domestic safety issue, closing the “boyfriend loophole.” Closing the “boyfriend loophole” would strip those convicted of abusing, assaulting, or stalking a dating partner or those subject to a court restraining order of their right to own or buy a firearm. Because of this new specification, the powerhouse gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, has adamantly opposed reauthorization, disregarding the millions of lives at risk because of the “boyfriend loophole.” From 1980 to 2008, roughly 1 in 5 homicide victims were killed by an intimate partner. Allowing the “boyfriend loophole” to exist for one more day is extremely dangerous. Closing the “boyfriend loophole” is being tough on crime.

The House of Representatives, because of the Democratic majority and 33 Republican representatives, passed the reauthorization bill with ease on April 4, 2019. Since then, the Senate Republicans, with the help of the NRA, have halted any hope for the VAWA to be reauthorized. The VAWA is at a crossroads. We must pressure all Senators to make the VAWA a priority. In the age of Covid-19, domestic violence rates are rising fast. Without the reauthorization of the VAWA, millions of women are in danger. The Senate must reauthorize now.

Use this link: bit.ly/reauthorizeVAWAnow to send an email to your Senators urging them to vote YES on the reauthorization bill, S. 2843.