The epidemic of violence against Indigenous women reaches back beyond the beginnings of the United States as a nation. We now recognize how sexual violence has been deployed against Indigenous communities as a tactic of genocide. In recent history, we’ve made small moves to begin addressing this violence – like increasing protections for Indigenous women in the Violence Against Women Act. Now, following tireless activism by Indigenous communities, the federal government is taking significant action to address these issues. In October 2020, two bills seeking to address violence against Indigenous…
Earlier this month, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals restored the Texas ban on abortions after six weeks. Dr. Alan Braid of San Antonio is already facing multiple lawsuits under the “bounty hunting” provision of the ban, which allows any private citizen to sue a person who in some way assists or facilitates a patient’s access to abortion services to the tune of $10,000. This law is troubling enough even before noting the lack of exceptions for rape or incest. But this law doesn’t just leave out victims of…
After a legislative session that felt particularly demanding as it juggled the impact of the pandemic in addition to a regular slate of concerns, here are just a few pieces of legislation that passed which are relevant to our work here at Signs of Hope. AB30 This piece of legislation expanded the purpose of the Account for Aid for Victims of Domestic Violence. Previously, funds from this account could only be awarded to non-profit organizations that exclusively served victims of Domestic Violence. Now, organizations that serve victims of sexual violence…