What is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)? The Act provides
federal money to protect women and children in abusive
situations. That protection varies from support for kids in
abusive homes, to help for women seeking restraining orders or
divorces, to education for law enforcement. It was first passed
in 1994 and has been re-authorized twice, with more or less
bipartisan support. Since it was passed into law in 1994, the
Violence Against Women Act has provided life-saving assistance
to millions of women and families across the nation. For
battered women, the law has provided critical law enforcement
protections and often a way out from a life of abuse. Shortly
after the holidays the House leadership decided to keep this
bill from the floor. In its re-authorized form the bill would
have extended domestic violence protections to 30 million LGBT
individuals, undocumented immigrants and Native American women.
As stated in the above excerpt, this law was initially passed in
1994. Since then it has been re-autho