Guest column: Montana delegation should support new Violence Against Women Act

This guest column by Haven Executive Director Erica Aytes Coyle appeared in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on March 10.

Think of four women you know. Chances are that one of them is a survivor of domestic abuse.

Which is why Haven — the Bozeman-based organization that works every day to protect domestic violence survivors by operating a shelter and offering legal support and counseling — advocates for a bipartisan bill to support survivors that was introduced last month in the Senate: the Violence Against Women Act. VAWA, as the law is known in our circles, is supported by 90% of voters, according to a survey by a national task force aiming to end these types of violence. The law is also supported by senators on both sides of the aisle. Our entire Montana delegation should support this bill and vote for it on the floor of the Senate when it comes up for a vote.

What does this new Violence Against Women Act do? It modernizes the original law — passed nearly 30 years ago, before abusers could stalk their partners using GPS tracking and spyware. It extends the two-prong system from the original law — authorizing grant funding for supporting domestic violence survivors, and prosecuting those who commit those crimes — into 2027. And it has specific measures to benefit Montana survivors of abuse, most of whom live in rural areas, and many of whom are Indigenous.

The law would re-up so-called rural grants that benefit rural Montana survivors of abuse who might not have anywhere to go if they decide to leave an abusive relationship — whether they live and work on a farm or ranch, or if they live in a housing-crunched larger Montana town like Bozeman or Billings. Last year alone, for example, this grant allowed us to pay for emergency hotel nights and rent help that was the equivalent of more than one year of safe nights for survivors. Our partners at Gallatin County and in law enforcement were also able to provide more than one month of safe nights to survivors thanks to this grant. Multiply that around rural Montana and you see that this funding helps hundreds of survivors in rural Montana stay alive and stay safe.

For Indigenous women living in Montana — who survive domestic violence at much higher rates than white women in Montana — the bill establishes what’s called tribal sovereignty over cases of domestic and sexual violence. This means that if a non-Native person sexually assaults a Native person or abuses a child on a reservation, Tribal courts will be able to prosecute the offender. It also improves information sharing between federal and Tribal law enforcement. And it creates new positions within the Department of Justice responsible for coordinating and advising on culturally specific VAWA programs, and providing technical assistance for Tribes and communities applying for grants.

The law isn’t perfect. We’re disappointed that this version doesn’t close what’s called “the boyfriend loophole,” which means that boyfriends and dating partners still aren’t covered by provisions that keep guns away from convicted perpetrators of domestic violence. Victims have paid for this oversight with their lives. We’ve seen the grim statistics: Nearly three in four of all Montanans who died from intimate-partner violence between 2000 and 2018 were killed by firearms. And we’ll keep trying to close this loophole even after this version of VAWA passes.

And it needs to pass. We want to see VAWA reauthorized this year, and urge our lawmakers to do what they’ve done regularly since VAWA was first signed into law in 1994: Vote for this bipartisan bill.

Passing this bill will extend its benefits until 2027, and help survivors of domestic and sexual violence across Montana — especially rural and Native survivors — find the safety and dignity they deserve. Sen. Jon Tester has co-sponsored this bill. We urge our entire Montana delegation to support this bipartisan, common-sense bill that helps empower and support those at the highest risk for experiencing abuse.