NOW Celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act

Statement by National NOW President Christian F. Nunes

September 13, 2024, marks the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and is a day of both celebration and rededication.

Thanks in large part to President Biden, who led the original fight for VAWA in the U.S. Senate, we now have a federal law that commits resources to survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

And when President Biden signed the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, he secured the highest-ever funding level for VAWA implementation, strengthened services, and made it easier for survivors to hold offenders accountable, among other changes.

We must continue to defend and strengthen VAWA, including a shift in funding away from the legal system and to culturally specific victim programs, economic and housing programs that target the pressing needs of BIPOC female survivors. This includes ending the crisis of insufficient beds and shelters to accommodate survivors-an annual survey by the National Network to End Domestic Violence of about 1,800 shelters in one day shows that these shelters turned away 13,335 domestic violence survivors and their families.

We need consistent funding and a commitment from leaders that there can be no safe harbor for any kind of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking-including the new scourge of AI generated deepfake images. We need legislation in Congress and the states to make the sexual exploitation of deepfake imagery illegal and hold wrongdoers accountable.

This anniversary is a day to recognize all that we've accomplished, and all that's still left to do.