After the election in November, things seemed to be on the up and up: Roe v. Wade and ACA were no longer in extreme jeopardy, and Congress was looking a considerably more diverse in gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. An unprecedented amount of women were elected, including Tammy Baldwin, the first gay Senator. 2013 was shaping up to be a great year.
Perhaps this is why the expiration of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) on January 2nd came as such a shock to many reproductive justice advocates. Drafted by then-senator Joe Biden in 1994, the law devoted over 1.6 billion dollars to the investigation and legal expenses surrounding violent crimes against women, including but not limited to female genital mutilation, marital rape, acid throwing, and forced prostitution.
Confession: Until its expiration, I’d never actually heard of VAWA before. This is probably because the law was renewed in 2000 and again in 2005 under the Bush administration with relatively little hassle. Its goal–to protect our nation’s women from violence–was a bipartisan one. After all, everyone has a mother, sister, wife, or female friend in their life worth protecting. Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, this is universal sentiment.
While it’s often said that the third time’s a charm, VAWA 2012 renewal met considerable criticism from conservatives who were opposed to its provisions being extended to LGBT individuals and battered immigrant women. While the bill passed through the Senate, it was struck down in a Republican-dominated House.
While American women are now without a legal safety net in the event of violence, I find myself wondering about a community which VAWA protected that we rarely discuss in our day-to-day reproductive justice dialogues: Native American women.
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