Tovah Kasdin, Program Manager, JWI

JWI has lobbied actively this year to advance and secure funding for policies – both national and international -- around violence against women and reproductive rights.

Violence Against Women

The Interfaith Domestic Violence Coalition, a national faith-based advocacy group convened by JWI, is celebrating its one year anniversary. After hosting a successful event on Capitol Hill in February, in the winter and spring the Coalition organized a series of lobby visits and met with staff of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee to push for full funding for the Violence Against Women Act and Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA), and to reinstate the 2006 cap for the Victims of Crime Act.

JWI also is working in coalition to increase Congressional co-sponsorship for the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) -- an unprecedented U.S. effort to address violence against women worldwide. The act is a direct response to the startling statistic that one out of every three women worldwide will be physically, sexually, or otherwise abused during her lifetime, with rates reaching 70 percent in some countries.

Reproductive Justice

Working with the Religious Advocates Working Group, a network of faith-based organizations focused on reproductive justice issues, JWI is lobbying Congress to co-sponsor the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act. This is federal legislation that would fund state programs providing honest, medically-accurate, age-appropriate sex education, so children and teens can make informed choices and remain healthy. Another goal of this lobbying effort is to increase funds for comprehensive sexuality education (which includes abstinence-only education) and eliminate programs focused exclusively on abstinence-only education.

For more information about JWI’s advocacy work, please contact Tovah Kasdin, Esq., program manager, at tkasdin@jwi.org or 202.857.1300.