House Passes GOP Violence Against Women Plan; Obama Threatens Veto

Defying a White House veto threat, the House approved a version of the Violence Against Women Act amid furious backlash from Democrats and women’s...

Women's Advocates, House Republicans Feuding Over VAWA

Prominent women’s groups are calling the U.S. House Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act homophobic, antivictim, racist, and elitist...

GOP Prepares Alternative to Dem's Violence Against Women Act Bill

Senate Republicans have prepared an alternative to a bill to update the Violence Against Women Act, reports Politico. The GOP was in a gender-gap political predicament after all Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted against the bill. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was recruited to help craft a new bill for her party. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said female GOP senators “present a softer approach even though they’re very tough people.”

Sensing political advantage with 61 co-sponsors already for the Democratic bill, Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday called it “sad” that there was a debate over the measure in Congress now. And Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who is leading her party’s campaign efforts, said it was Democrats who were “standing tall” on behalf of women in the debate over the Violence Against Women Act. When the Violence Against Women Act heads to the floor as soon as this week, Hutchison — who is not on the Judiciary Committee — will offer an alternative that gives Republicans something to vote for while they vote against the Democratic version.

Carbon Exits U.S. Office of Violence Against Women; Hanson Steps Up

Beatrice (Bea) Hanson has been named acting director of the United States Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). Hanson replaces Susan Carbon, who has stepped down to move back to New Hampshire. Hanson serves as the liaison between the Department of Justice and federal, state, tribal, and international governments on crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

The office has an annual budget exceeding $400 million. Hanson had been serving as principal deputy director of the office. In a a message announcing her departure after two years, Carbon cited the agency's work on the reauthorization of the federal Violence Against Women Act as well as "our innovative homicide reduction initiative, elevating the discourse of sexual violence to a new level, the new [Uniform Crime Report] Summary Reporting System definition of rape, launching the Sexual Assault Demonstration Initiative (SADI), exploring reform for family courts wrestling with domestic violence, our expansion of work in the international arena."

As Senate Women Back VAWA, GOP Seeks "Open Amendments"

Six female Democratic senators were joined by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK) on the Senate floor yesterday to offer support for the Violence Against...

VAWA Extension Debate, Dems Paint GOP as Antiwoman

In the ongoing drama over extension of the 1994 federal Violence Against Women Act, Senate Democratic women plan to march to the Senate floor today to demand quick action on its extension, the New York Times reports. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) may push for a vote this month. Democrats, confident they have the political upper hand with women, insist that Republican opposition falls into a larger picture of insensitivity toward women that has progressed from abortion fights to contraception to preventive health care coverage — and now to domestic violence.

“I am furious,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). “We’re mad, and we’re tired of it.” Republicans are bracing for a battle where substantive arguments could be swamped by political optics and the intensity of the clash over women’s issues. At a closed-door lunch yesterday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)  warned her colleagues that the party was at risk of being successfully painted as antiwoman. Some conservatives are feeling trapped. “I favor the Violence Against Women Act and have supported it at various points over the years, but there are matters put on that bill that almost seem to invite opposition,” said Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL). “You think that’s possible? You think they might have put things in there we couldn’t support that maybe then they could accuse you of not being supportive of fighting violence against women

The VAWA Debate (Continued)

By Lisa Riordan Seville

GOP officials in New York back a City Council resolution this week calling for passage of expanded protections for domestic violence survivors.

Teen Dating Violence Often Part of a Pattern of Victimization: Report

Teen victims of dating violence are overwhelmingly more likely to have been victims of other forms of violence, such as sexual violence and child abuse, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire Crimes Against Children Research Center.

VAWA Expansion Endangered by Split Senate Vote

By Ted Gest

A proposed expansion of the federal Violence Against Women Act to aid “underserved” populations is in jeopardy after solid Republican opposition at a Senate markup yesterday.

VAWA at the Crossroads

By Deirdre Bannon

Advocates want to expand a the Violence Against Women Act, a landmark federal law passed in 1994. But the GOP has important reservations.

Chained and Pregnant

By Norhan Basuni

Since 2000, 13 states have banned shackling women prisoners while they are in labor. Efforts to halt the practice elsewhere, however, are opposed by jail administrators. 

First U.S. Grants to Get Men Involved in Preventing Intimate Violence

The U.S. Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women is awarding $6.9 million to 23 projects in the Engaging Men in Preventing Sexual Assault...

Say No to Control? Most Young Women Can't

Young women that have controlling partners are at increased risk to be victims of sexual and physical violence, found a new study.