Abusegate Targets Anti-Family Lawmakers for Electoral Defeat

WASHINGTON, June 7 – Twenty national lawmakers, known for their advocacy of policies that promote false allegations and serve to break-up families, have been targeted for electoral defeat in November.

The 20 lawmakers are supporters of discriminatory laws such as the International Violence Against Women Act that are known to violate fundamental civil rights and escalate partner tensions. The 20 Democratic and Republican lawmakers are listed at the end of this press release.

“Domestic violence laws that promote ‘false allegations’ of domestic violence contribute to the destruction of families. Such laws remove the right of many children to know one of their parents, and often their grandparents,” explains Sheryle Hutter of Colorado. “Thanks to such laws, my son hasn’t seen his daughter for 10 years, and I have not seen my grandchild for more than 3 years.”

The use of false abuse allegations to gain a tactical edge in child custody cases has been extensively documented: http://www.saveservices.org/downloads/VAWA-A-Culture-of-False-Allegations 

A growing number of civil rights organizations are questioning “get-tough” domestic violence laws. The Washington Civil Rights Council has described the Violence Against Women Act as the “biggest civil rights roll-back since the Jim Crow era.” Last year the Connecticut chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union successfully challenged a case in which a man falsely-accused of domestic violence was denied the right to a hearing.

Women’s groups such as Concerned Women for America have also expressed concerns with what it calls violence against women “misinformation.” In May 5, 2010 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Concerned Women for America warned that abuse-reduction programs need to “take the ‘gender’ politics and ‘politically-correct’ agenda out of the public policy solutions.”The effectiveness of domestic violence programs is likewise being challenged. According to Department of Justice official Angela Moore Parmley, “We have no evidence to date that VAWA [Violence Against Women Act] has led to a decrease in the overall levels of violence against women.”

Research shows women are as likely as men to initiate physical abuse against their intimate partners:

http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm But VAWA-funded programs may present misleading statistics.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

Senators:

Barbara Boxer - California

Mark Kirk - Illinois

Russ Carnahan - Missouri

Arlen Specter - Pennsylvania

Patty Murray - Washington

 

Representatives:

Vic Snyder – Arkansas

Lucille Roybal-Allard - California

Jeff Miller – Florida

Jim Marshall - Georgia

Walt Minnick - Georgia

John Tierney - Massachusetts

Donna Edwards - Maryland

Larry Kissel – North Carolina

Paul Hodes – New Hampshire

Rush Holt – New Jersey

Ben Luján – New Mexico

Mary Joe Kilroy - Ohio

David Wu – Oregon

Ted Poe - Texas

Steve Kagen - Wisconsin

Abusegate, Investigate is a national coalition of persons working to reform the Violence Against Women Act and other domestic violence laws that harm families and infringe upon civil rights: http://abusegate.mensnewsdaily.com/