Yoder Challenges Young to Explain Vote to Gut "Violence Against Women Act"

Press Release

Shelli Yoder, the Democratic Congressional candidate for Indiana's 9th District, today challenged Todd Young to explain his vote Wednesday to gut the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), calling it "a threat to all women and playing partisan politics with women's lives." Yoder said that Young's descriptions of his VAWA vote in press statements and on his official congressional web site are deceptive.

"Mr. Young would like 9th District voters to believe that his vote for a stripped-down version of the Senate Violence Against Women Act bill passed earlier this year is a vote to protect women against violence when in fact it is just the opposite," Yoder said. "The version supported by Mr. Young endangers women by removing longstanding and hard-fought protections against domestic and other types of interpersonal violence."

Yoder pointed to critical differences between the partisan House bill supported by Young and a bipartisan version passed by the Senate in April.

"The partisan House bill supported by Mr. Young discriminates against women on the basis of ethnic background and sexual orientation," Yoder said. Yoder pointed out that the Senate version passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in which every woman Republican Senator voted for the bill. She added that even "Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) strongly urged House Speaker John Boehner to simply pass the Senate bill rather than play politics on the issue."

"Mr. Young needs to explain why he voted for a version of VAWA that does not protect all women," Yoder said. "How can he justify allowing certain women to be subjected to violence and abuse and not be protected by this law?" Yoder promised to work to strengthen the Violence Against Women Act and oppose any efforts to weaken it.

This is the second time in a just over a month that Young and House Republicans have played politics with the Violence Against Women Act. Earlier, House Republicans voted to block reauthorization of VAWA. The original VAWA was a bipartisan bill that reduced domestic violence rates by 58% since 1994, when it first passed. The previous reauthorization passed with a nearly unanimous vote in both the House and Senate.

President Obama has threatened to veto the House version, which will soon go to a House-Senate conference.

Yoder's other key issues are creating jobs and expanding economic opportunity for all Hoosier families. Her plan includes increasing opportunities for worker training, funding for health research initiatives, and investing in infrastructure and green technologies. Yoder is running to unseat Todd Young in the general election on November 6, 2012. For more information on Yoder's candidacy, please go to www.shelliyoderforcongress.com.

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