United States
Each year – Over 12 million women and men are victims of intimate partner violence, according to the
National Domestic Violence Hotline.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline (and loveisrespect, its project for teens and young adults)
answered 363,185 calls, chats and texts in 2020.
Timeline
June 19, 1990 – S. 2754, the
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is introduced in Congress by
Senator Joseph Biden, but it is not enacted.
June 1991 – The American Medical Association publishes recommendations that physicians routinely inquire about possible abuse.
January 21, 1993 – Biden re-introduces the bill.
September 13, 1994 – President Bill Clinton signs the Violence Against Women Act into law within the
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. It must be renewed every five years. The law also establishes the Violence Against Women Policy Office and the Violence Against Women Grants Office (now the Department of Justice Office of Violence Against Women).
February 21, 1996 – The National Domestic Violence Hotline receives its first calls, and gets 4,826 calls its first month.
1999 – The Office of Violence Against Women is created by a merger of the Violence Against Women Policy Office and the Violence Against Women Grants Office.
October 28, 2000 – The Violence Against Women Act of 2000 is reauthorized with new provisions and signed into law by President Clinton. The new provisions include the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and expanded measures for battered immigrant women.
August 2, 2003 – The hotline receives its millionth call.
January 5, 2006 – The Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 is signed into law by
President George W. Bush, with new provisions on dating violence, Native American women and the use of DNA fingerprinting.
April 28, 2009 – The National Domestic Violence Hotline receives its two millionth call.
April 26, 2012 – The Senate votes on S.1925 to reauthorize VAWA with expanded measures to include battered illegal immigrant women, Native American women and the LGBT community.
May 16, 2012 – The House votes on H.R. 4970 to reauthorize VAWA. The House version omits the expanded measures of the Senate bill.
December 31, 2012 – For the first time since it was enacted, VAWA expires. VAWA, which must be renewed every five years, is not reauthorized by Congress.
March 7, 2013 – S.47, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 is signed into law by
President Barack Obama, with new provisions. The new provisions address the needs of undocumented immigrant women, Native American women, the
LGBT community and teen dating violence and reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
March 13, 2013 – Biden announces the Obama Administration’s Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention Demonstration Initiative as part of the reauthorization of the Violence against Women Act.
July 2013 – The National Domestic Violence hotline receives its three millionth call.
January 2017 – US President Donald Trump signs executive order “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States.” According to the Tahirih Justice Center, the order may keep abused women who are undocumented from seeking legal protection for fear of deportation.
January 1, 2019 – Ireland’s Domestic Violence Act 2018 goes into effect and provides new protections for victims of “coercive control,” a type of emotional and psychological abuse aimed at stripping a person of their self-worth and agency.
February 15, 2019 – The VAWA grant program expires the day after it is left out of the funding bill that ends the partial government shutdown.
House Democrats plan to push for an overhaul of the legislation.
H.R.1585, Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, is introduced March 7 and passed April 4. On November 13,
S.2843, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, is introduced in the Senate. Senate Republicans object to the House bill for several reasons, including the inclusion of protections for transgender people and a provision that would prohibit those convicted of certain misdemeanor charges from purchasing firearms. No further action is taken in 2019 regarding the grant program.
March 17, 2021 – The House votes to pass
H.R.1620, the
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021. The bill is later received in the Senate but does not advance.
March 15, 2022 – The
Violence against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022 is
signed into law by President Biden as part of a
larger spending bill. The bill reauthorizes the VAWA grant program through 2027 and expands resources for prevention of violence and the economic protection of survivors.
