The Violence Against Women Act is so important for so. many. reasons. I've already written about a few of them in previous updates. If Congress lets the VAWA expire, here are just a few things that would happen:

We all have powerful, important reasons that we need the VAWA. Those reasons deserve to be heard and there is power in your story. Let's get this hashtag trending: #whyIneedtheVAWA to make those reasons known and keep the pressure up on our representatives.

1. Federal agencies that protect survivors and offer services to survivors looking to escape their situations would lose massive funding. Rape crisis centers, shelters and legal assistance programs that are dependent on grants from the VAWA would suffer greatly.

2. Prosecution offices currently receive funding from VAWA legislation because of the immense resources that go into prosecuting sexual assault and domestic violence cases. One of the things the Kavanaugh hearings taught us is that sexual assault and domestic violence cases are not like any other case. What made VAWA so historic is that the legislation recognized that, and directed money toward services specifically for the purpose of making sure these crimes were prosecuted correctly.

3. Minority groups will continue to be at risk. Immigrants and the Native American community specifically require specific protections that the VAWA has not yet addressed. I have written about that more extensively in previous updates. Some in Congress are so resistant to granting minority groups the protections they require, the 2013 re-authorization almost was not passed. It is critical that doesn't happen this time.

We all have powerful, important reasons that we need the VAWA. Those reasons deserve to be heard, and there is power in your story. Let's get this hashtag trending: #whyIneedtheVAWA to make those reasons known and keep the pressure up on our representatives.