How GOP Politicians Celebrate Mother's Day

CORE MESSAGE

How do Washington Republicans celebrate Mother's Day?
By making it easier to traffic and abuse women.

Connect: Protecting all women from abuse and cracking down on sex traffickers should be a no-brainer.

Define: Republicans in Congress want to exclude certain groups of women from the Violence Against Women Act's full protections and strip away existing protections against sex trafficking.

Illustrate: They're actually rewriting the Violence Against Women Act on behalf of lobbyists for a mail-order bride service, so it'd be easier for their clients to get away with abusing vulnerable women.

Expose: Just how much campaign money are these politicians expecting from companies that leave immigrant women trapped in abusive relationships?

Values: We must show our politicians that no amount of promised campaign contributions is worth selling out vulnerable victims to sex traffickers.

Don't use: Person X opposes "VAWA"
Instead use: Person X opposes the "Violence Against Women Act"

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ATTACKS AND RESPONSES

ATTACK: "Democrats are adding provisions to VAWA just to pick a fight for political advantage."
RESPONSE:

• All women deserve protection from abuse -- no matter if they are white, black, immigrant, Native American or gay -- and no violent criminal should get away with hurting them. There should be nothing controversial or partisan about this.
• The only senators who voted against the Violence Against Women Act were Republican men. Like Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has said, maybe they should go home and talk to their wives and daughters about what their actions say.
• Experts say the Violence Against Women Act has been the single most effective federal effort to combat domestic violence and sexual assault in the U.S., but we need to do more to bring all victims of abuse in under its full protections. That's what Democrats are trying to do.

ATTACK: "House Republicans are just trying to curb VAWA immigration fraud."
RESPONSE:

• They're actually rewriting the Violence Against Women Act on behalf of lobbyists for a mail-order bride service, so it'd be easier for their clients to get away with abusing vulnerable women and harder for our law enforcement to hold them accountable.
• These politicians haven't even studied whether there's even a problem or consulted with the experts or advocates working tirelessly to protect battered immigrant women.
• We must show our politicians that no amount of promised campaign contributions is worth selling out vulnerable victims to sex traffickers.

ATTACK: "VAWA is a slush fund for feminist causes that harms men unfairly and promotes the end of marriages."
RESPONSE:

• Protecting our mothers, sisters, and daughters from abuse and violent crime should be important to all Americans.
• Domestic violence devastates the entire family. With 15 million children exposed to family violence every year, protecting women against abuse means protecting children.
• There's nothing "pro-marriage" or "pro-family" about leaving women and children trapped in violent homes.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Domestic violence has dropped by more than half since the Violence Against Women Act became law in 1994. With more victims coming forward, reports of abuse have also increased by 50%.
• The Violence Against Women Act has always included protections for immigrant women who would otherwise be too afraid to come forward due to their status -- including the confidentiality protections and anti-fraud protections that Republicans in Congress are trying to roll back.
• Women continue to bear the brunt of domestic and sexual violence:
• In the U.S., 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men are victims of domestic violence at some point in their lives.
• About 1 in 5 women have been raped during their lives.
• Every day, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends.
• Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBTQ) victims experience domestic violence in 25% to 35% of relationships -- about the same rate as in the general population.
• Native American women face the highest rate of domestic violence out of any group in the country — three and a half times the national average. 
• Nearly 20,000 individuals are trafficked into the U.S. each year, although the actual number is likely to be higher. Worldwide, 95% of victims experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking.
• Like the Senate Republicans' version of the bill, the House GOP bill would exclude immigrant, Native American, and gay and lesbian victims from its full protections.
• The reauthorization bill that passed the Senate with overwhelming support, except from Republican men, has the backing of nearly all state attorneys general and nearly a thousand national, state, and local organizations in America.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working. See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.