The Huffington Post Politics,        May 16, 2012

We believe that a YES vote on H.R. 4970 is a NO vote on VAWA. We oppose Adam’s bill because it is NOT the REAL VAWA, it doesn’t include protections for all victims and it rolls back protections for victims of violence from vulnerable communities.

In a near party-line 17-15 vote, one Member, Representative Ted Poe (R-TX), crossed the aisle and stood on the side of victims. As Co-Chair of the Victims’ Rights Caucus, he joined VAWA’?s Democratic champions and voted against the bill.

Although great efforts were made to improve the Adams bill by including vulnerable communities such as Native women, LGBTQ victims, and immigrant victims, and striking mandatory minimum sentencing, these solutions were consistently defeated by the House committee majority.

Our time and efforts must now focus on the full House of Representatives in order to pass the same inclusive VAWA that was passed by the Senate in late April with bipartisan cooperation.

Tell your Member of Congress that you oppose the bill that is coming up for a vote soon. Stand with us and take action today!

Watch Congresswoman Roybal-Allard’s floor statement about the bill.

In 2009, the teen birth rate for Latinas, African Americans and American Indians/Alaska Natives was more than double the teen birth rate of non-Hispanic Caucasians. However, disparities in contraceptive use are closely connected to social and economic inequities in communities of color; for example, a Latina girl is three times more likely to be without health insurance than her white counterpart.

New research also shows that teen dating violence and abuse, including reproductive coercion, is associated with higher levels of teen pregnancy and unplanned pregnancy. In fact, adolescent girls in physically abusive relationships are three times more likely to become pregnant than non-abused girls.

The Communities of Color Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Act will:

• fund teenage pregnancy prevention program interventions that serve youth in ethnic and racial groups with the highest teen pregnancy rates;
• fund multimedia public education and awareness about teen pregnancy and violence prevention;
• study factors that contribute to disproportionately high rates of teenage and unintended pregnancy in communities of color.

“Dating violence is a growing crisis among our teens ,” said Esta Soler, Founder and President of Futures Without Violence, formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund. “Teens in abusive relationships are at significantly higher risk for unintended pregnancy, poor pregnancy outcomes, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. These can be reduced if we teach young people how to create and build healthy relationships.”

Read more about the Communities of Color Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Act.

July 28, 2011

CONTACT: Margaret Conway, 202-552-1716

WASHINGTON, DC – Recognizing the need for a broader approach to address teen pregnancy in communities of color, including the role coercion and violence plays in unintended pregnancy, legislators today introduced a bill to help young people of color get information and skills they need to build healthy relationships.

The “Communities of Color Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Act of 2011,” HR 2678/S 1437, was introduced today by U.S. Representative and Chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Health Task Force, Lucille Roybal-Allard (D, CA-34), and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Both are long-time champions of efforts to reduce health disparities and violence among Latinos and other ethnic communities. The bill breaks ground as the first federal program to integrate teen dating violence prevention and teen pregnancy prevention, and in recognizing the need of racial or ethnic minority and immigrant communities for culturally appropriate information and education on these issues.

In 2009 the teen birth rate for Latinas, African Americans and American Indians/Alaska Natives was more than double the teen birth rate of non-Hispanic Caucasians. However, disparities in contraceptive use are closely connected to social and economic inequities in communities of color; for example, a Latina girl is three times more likely to be without health insurance than her white counterpart.

“Myths — rather than realities — have too often guided the public discourse about Latinas and pregnancy,” said Maria Elena Perez, Interim Executive Director at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. “Young women of color in general, and particularly immigrant young women, have less access to the health care and information they need to be able to make the reproductive choices that are right for them.”

The number of teens facing violence and coercion is equally striking, with 1 in 4 adolescents reporting emotional, physical, or sexual violence each year. Adolescent girls in physically abusive relationships are three times more likely to become pregnant than non-abused girls.

“Dating violence is a growing crisis among our teens,” said Esta Soler, Founder and President of Futures Without Violence, formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund. “Teens in abusive relationships are at significantly higher risk for unintended pregnancy, poor pregnancy outcomes, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. These can be reduced if we teach young people how to create and build healthy relationships.”

The Communities of Color Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Act would:

• fund teenage pregnancy prevention program interventions with a focus on supporting community-based organizations that are well-positioned to serve youth in ethnic and racial groups with the highest teen pregnancy rates;

• fund multimedia public education and awareness about teen pregnancy and related social and emotional issues, such as violence prevention;

• study factors that contribute to disproportionately high rates of teenage and unintended pregnancy in communities of color, and the role that violence and abuse play in the decisions young people make about relationships, sex, pregnancy, and childbearing.

The legislation has been advocated by the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, Futures Without Violence, and the The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

“It is essential to provide youth the information and skills they need to reduce teenage pregnancies and decrease teen violence,” said Soler. “This groundbreaking legislation will give our young people support to build healthy relationships and improve their overall health and well-being.”

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health is the nation’s only reproductive health policy and advocacy organization working on behalf of the reproductive health and justice of the nation’s Latina women.

Futures Without Violence, formerly the Family Violence Prevention Fund, works to end violence against women and children around the world, because every person has the right to live free of violence. More information is available at www.futureswithoutviolence.org. The organization’s kNOwMore initiative, which examines the consequences of reproductive coercion and violence, is online at www.KnowMoreSayMore.org.

“With nearly one quarter of women experiencing violence or abuse at some point in their lifetimes and millions of children affected, the prevalence data clearly argues for this population to receive early assessment and counseling,” said Lisa James, Director of the National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence at Futures Without Violence, formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund.

Abused women and girls are at significantly higher risk for unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and poor pregnancy outcomes. Those who experience reproductive coercion may have partners who attempt to sabotage their birth control (such as flushing pills down the toilet), so a method such as an implant or a shot may be more effective at preventing pregnancy. While those methods currently may have a cost barrier, the recommendations encourage HHS to make all methods of FDA-approved contraception available without a co-pay. The IOM report is a monumental leap toward ensuring that our health care system and providers will be partners in identifying and helping victims of reproductive coercion.

Read more about the historic policy change that will help decrease violence against women on the Futures Without Violence site.

Gretchen Voss, in the July issue of Redbook, tells the stories of these three women who were forced to become pregnant against their will.

The article cites experts on the issue, including Lisa James, director of health for Futures Without Violence, who noted: The last thing an abused woman needs is an unplanned pregnancy because the most dangerous time for a woman in any abusive relationship is when she chooses to escape. And with a child in the mix, it can be even riskier.

The piece also makes connections with current attacks on family planning in Congress:

Domestic violence advocates sounded alarms earlier this year when Congress threatened to stop financing Title X, which funds a variety of family-planning services, including Planned Parenthood. [M}any voters never considered how de-funding these clinics could endanger victims of domestic violence, who turn to them for counseling as well as pregnancy prevention. As new research shows, helping an abused woman prevent an unwanted pregnancy massively increases the odds that she’ll be able to leave her partner. “Abused women will go to their health providers long before they’ll call a domestic violence hotline,” says Dr. Elizabeth Miller, who has studied reproductive coercion in depth. “That contact may be our only chance to help them understand what a healthy relationship should look like.”

Read more in Redbook.

WASHINGTON DC – Futures Without Violence, formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund, issued the following statement on the National Prevention Strategy released today by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and U.S. Surgeon General:

“The inclusion of violence prevention among the core principles of our nation’s prevention strategy is a significant victory for victims’ advocates.

Violence has serious health consequences that last long after the initial trauma, both for adults and children. With nearly one quarter of women experiencing violence or abuse in her lifetime and millions of children affected, the prevalence clearly argues for this population to receive early assessment and counseling.

Victims of domestic violence are at increased risk for heart disease, obesity, stroke, hypertension and chronic pain. Abused women and girls are at significantly higher risk for unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Children who witness family violence are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, substance abuse and asthma.

Today’s announcement is an important step in our efforts to recognize that for people to be healthy, they must be able to live free of violence.”

- Esta Soler, Founder and President, Futures Without Violence, formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund

Founding Father’s aim is for a new kind of society – where decency and respect require no special day on the calendar, where boys are taught that violence does not equal strength and where men stand with courage, lead with conviction and speak with one voice to say, “No more.”

Look for annual the Futures Without Violence Father’s Day Declaration in The New York Times on June 19. This year we will take a moment to recognize a very special group of Founding Fathers who have played a significant role in helping us establish Futures Without Violence at the Presidio, an international center dedicated exclusively to ending and preventing violence against women and children.

You can participate in the Founding Father’s campaign by

Learn more about the reasons men might abuse women in this way, how health care professionals can identify reproductive coercion, and how providers can help women those partners are trying to coerce a pregnancy by listening to the entire interview.