For Immediate Release
March 16, 2022
Contact: Katie Everett, Press Secretary
Keverett@cwfa.org
(571) 420-2488
Biden’s Priorities are Out of Step with Reality
Policies Aimed at Protecting Women Fail
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, President Joe Biden signed into law the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Reauthorization Act of 2022, legislation passed by Congress as part of a massive government spending package.
Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC), on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Concerned Women for America (CWA)’s grassroots supporters across the country, opposes this effort to update VAWA because it fails women. For over 40 years, CWALAC has championed the privacy and safety rights of women, supporting causes for justice and assistance to victims of sexual exploitation and domestic violence. This VAWA renewal focuses on all the wrong priorities, such as:
- erasing in several instances the word “women,”
- prioritizing funding for unspecified groups of people who self-identify with a particular “sexual orientation” or “gender identity,”
- sex education recommendations for schools,
- funding that leaves an open door to abortion giant Planned Parenthood, a VAWA grant recipient, and
- millions of dollars in a set-aside for special services for so-called “LGBT” communities and exactly $0 in set-asides for women survivors in rural communities.
VAWA was originally enacted as a government and community response to violent crimes against women. Special interests have since hijacked the program. Current VAWA programs are so extreme that they would require a service provider to ignore a survivor if she speaks up about feeling unsafe residing with a man who identifies as a woman. Since at least 2013, updates to VAWA have undermined the program’s critical mission and shamefully politicize care and recovery for survivors. Women are once again left to hold the bag.
“The deceptive name of this bill fails to identify it’s real effect – the dramatic advancement of gender ideology in federal law, including for the first-time millions in special set-asides for LGBT+ programs in addition to the millions already given to this identity group,” said Penny Nance, CEO and President of CWALAC.
“The President’s comments today were stuck in the past and missed the mark on what this law will truly mean for women. I will continue to work on behalf of our more than 500,000 members to keep this Administration accountable for protecting women when it takes action that does the exact opposite.”
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Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee is the legislation and advocacy arm of Concerned Women for America, the Nation’s largest public policy organization for women; we are dedicated to promoting Biblical values and Constitutional principles. More information is available at ConcernedWomen.org