By Sherry Lear
Editor’s note: Sherry Lear is an attorney and resident of San Pedro. She serves on Janice Hahn’s Advisory Council on Women’s Issues and is Los Angeles co-chairwoman of Miss R*EVOLutionaries, a California-based women’s rights group. This grassroots organization was launched with the April 28, 2012 nationwide rallies for “Unite Against the War on Women.”
As I write this piece, the United States Congress has yet to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. The VAWA was first passed in 1994 through bipartisan efforts to provide a comprehensive scheme of federal legislation designed to address the pervasiveness of sex-based violence in our country. Since its original passage, the VAWA has been reauthorized twice through bipartisan efforts of Congress, on each occasion, with new provisions expanding the protections and effectiveness of the act.