Statements by Leading Organizations

Recent Statements by Coalitions and Leading Organizations on the Violence Against Women Act

COALITION STATEMENTS:

  • Let Freedom Ring, Faith and Freedom Coalition, American Civil Rights Union, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, Family Talk, Stop Abusive and Violent Environments, National Center for the Prevention of Community Violence, Tea Party Nation, Tradition, Family, Property, Inc., Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital, Women for Democracy in America, Inc., Religious Freedom Coalition, Children First Foundation, Christian Coalition of America, Accuracy in Media, Liberty Counsel, Liberty Counsel Action, Accuracy in Academia, Center for Military Readiness, Institute on Religion and Democracy, Frontiers of Freedom, Honest-Ribbon.org, National Federation of Republican Assemblies, Maryland Federation of Republican Women, National Tax Limitation Committee, Maryland Taxpayers Association, Fight for Tomorrow, National Center for Public Policy Research, Project 21, Coalition for a Strong America, Victims of Immigration Fraud, Center for Prosecutor Integrity, Defending Our Father’s House, Marriage Savers, Domestic Violence Wears Many Tags, PAS Intervention, Douglass Leadership Institute, Domestic Violence Counseling Center, and Conservatives of Faith:
    “The goal of the Coalition to End Domestic Violence (CEDV) is to ensure that the VAWA is responsive to victims’ wishes, resources are actually making it to those who need it most, and given the current political environment, that the legislative drafting process is open and transparent to stakeholders and the public….The [VAWA drafting] committee must ensure the values of family preservation, limited government, and due process, will no longer be under assault with this legislation. As members of Congress, we expect you to be listening to community leaders, pastors, and concerned citizens, not just special interests, and allow our Coalition to have a seat at the table as full and frequent participants in the drafting process.” https://endtodv.org/statements/organizations/
  • AHA Foundation, Concerned Women for America, Independent Women’s Forum, Independent Women’s Voice, Sahiyo, and Safe Hands for Girls:
    We “express strong support for including provisions enhancing penalties for female genital mutilation (FGM), ensuring resources are available for educating communities and professionals about this harmful practice, establishing a coordinated inter-agency response to FGM, and facilitating the development of comprehensive state anti-FGM model legislation….In addition to strong deterrents, we need to embrace a holistic approach to address this practice in a meaningful way. Funding is needed to educate both communities as well as professionals – law enforcement, medical professionals, social service providers, and teachers – who may encounter women and girls facing FGM.” https://www.theahafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/VAWA_Grassley_Redacted.pdf

ORGANIZATIONAL STATEMENTS:

Assorted Concerns:

  • Independent Women’s Forum: VAWA “needs reform to make it more effective and accountable. Include all victims rather than singling out specific groups for special protection based on gender, sexual orientation, or other group status. Return flexibility to states and localities so they might tailor programs to meet the needs of their particular communities, encouraging a more comprehensive approach to treating the complex causes of intimate partner violence.” http://pdf.iwf.org/the_violence_against_women_act.pdf
  • Judicial Watch: Under H.R. 6545, “Unemployment benefits will be provided to employees separated due to harassment, domestic violence, and stalking with no meaningful requirement that the allegations be proven.” https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2018/10/domestic-violence-law-renewal-full-of-leftist-statutory-devices-restricts-gun-rights/
  • National Rifle Association: H.R. 6545 “includes changes such as banning those accused of non-violent offenses — such as misdemeanor stalking — from owning a firearm.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6eI36KIMYQ
  • Focus on the Family: “As this important legislation is discussed, we expect community leaders, not just special interests, to have a seat at the table when the drafting committee is proposing changes to the current [VAWA] law.” https://endtodv.org/statements/other-groups/

National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence:

  • SAVE: “The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence is the behind-the-scenes power-broker that, more than any other group, controls the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)…Despite the fact that the National Task Force exerts enormous power over public policy, it operates as a clandestine entity with no accountability to the public, lawmakers, or domestic violence stakeholders.” http://www.saveservices.org/camp/ntf/
  • National Parents Organization: “U.S. public policy on domestic violence is being controlled by an organization that is utterly secret. We neither know…what the NTF is, what it does, who funds it, who is affiliated with it, or whether it violates federal law.” https://nationalparentsorganization.org/blog/23940-secret-organization-controls-u-s-domestic-violence-policy

Male Victims:

  • Domestic Violence Wears Many Tags: “According to the Centers for Disease Control, about one in three (33.3% or 37.2 million) American men experience sexual violence, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetimes; and 13.4% of male high school students report being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner. But VAWA services don’t assist boys and men who are victims of domestic and sexual violence. That needs to change.” https://www.facebook.com/Dvwmt96/
  • • Dads and Moms PAC: “Our society has moved beyond the premise that all domestic violence and sexual assault is perpetrated by men. This one-sided claim is often thrown out to gain a strategic advantage in divorce and custody cases. The general public is outraged at the misuse of protection orders, as well. Equal protection must be afforded to all citizens. Despite the original good intentions of VAWA, this law must now be reformed.” http://www.dadsmomspac.org/

False Allegations:

  • Capital Research Center: “The damage that groups funded under VAWA do to men falsely accused of domestic abuse is hard to estimate.” https://capitalresearch.org/article/vawa/
  • Stop False Allegations of Domestic Violence: “Laws enacted to protect the victims of the vile crime of domestic violence are being misused by both citizens as well as law enforcement, and in the process innocent men’s lives are being destroyed. In most states, the burden of proof is being thrown out and the simple word of the accuser is being taken without question.” – Petition with 39,560 messages, as of January 18, 2019. https://www.petition2congress.com/ctas/stop-false-allegations-domestic-violence
  • Leading Women for Shared Parenting: “Each VAWA re-authorization cycle brings renewed effort to expand definitions of domestic violence. This results in the increasing use of the “silver bullet” technique in divorce and child custody cases. The “silver bullet” involves allegations of abuse in order to gain the upper hand in litigation. Any VAWA re-authorization should include provisions sanctioning persons who encourage, suggest, “coach,” or otherwise support leveling allegations without confirming physical evidence that the alleged abuse actually occurred.” http://lw4sp.org/
  • Center for Immigration Studies: Under VAWA, “an alien can allege that her (or his) spouse engages in domestic violence and abuse and — without that citizen having a chance to clear his (or her) name….How can this travesty of justice take place? Clearly there are significant emotional, financial, and perhaps even professional employment consequences that can flow from such a Kafkaesque adjudication.” https://cis.org/Cadman/Inherent-Unfairness-Immigration-Provision-Violence-Against-Women-Act
  • ImmigrationFraud.com: “The perfect way to bypass regular background checks and the two-year marriage requirement? Make false domestic violence allegations — either emotional of physical. These provisions are part of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).” http://www.immigrationfraud.com/news.html
  • Victims of Immigration Fraud: “Some provisions of the Violence against Women Act (VAWA) are being used by foreign national spouses to bypass the immigration laws of the United States. The K-1 Fiancée visa system has a loophole that encourages false allegations of domestic abuse. The accuser is given an incentive to self petition themselves into the United States (VAWA I 360 exception). These same provisions also deny an American spouse a fair opportunity to present a defense to the USCIS when an allegation of abuse is made by a foreign spouse, whether it is a man or a woman.” http://voif.org/

PREVIOUS STATEMENTS:

During the previous VAWA reauthorization, other organizations issued statements calling for reform:

  • Beverly LaHaye Institute
  • Eagle Forum
  • Family Research Council
  • FreedomWorks
  • Heritage Foundation
  • National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys
  • National Research Council

See: https://endtodv.org/statements/other-groups/