Imagine feeling shaken, battered and utterly alone.
In Bucks County alone, at least nine people died last year at the hands of domestic violence and sexual abusers.
Pennsylvania is among 17 states with statewide domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy groups that filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island last month challenging new restrictive federal funding requirements that would harm victims across the commonwealth.
The new restrictions are in line with President Donald Trump’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion practices and programs that protect and support transgender people, which the “administration deems ‘illegal and immoral,’” according to Democracy Forward. Democracy Forward is a national organization based in Washington D.C. that is representing the plaintiffs along with Jacobson Lawyers Group, the ACLU of Rhode Island, National Women’s Law Center, and DeLuca, Weizenbaum, Barry & Revens, Ltd. / Lawyers’ Committee of Rhode Island.
The cuts aim to restrict federal funding that benefits domestic violence and sexual abuse victims. Federal grants are issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women (OVM).
Jennifer Locker, executive director of A Woman’s Place in Doylestown Township, said 82% of funding for its hotline and safe house services comes from federal, state and county dollars. About 76% of the hotline and safe house funding is filled by federal grants.
She said since 2020, hotline calls soared by 40% since 2020; those numbers have just begun to settle back to pre pandemic levels.
“About 50 households and 75 kids are all people at the highest fatality risk with no other safe places to go,” Locker said.
A Woman’s Place receives about 60% of its revenue overall from government funding with 45% of it coming from federal sources, she explained.
“Of over 2,000 survivors there are still people in high risk situations that don’t know about us or have reached out to us,” she said.
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV), an organization founded in 1976 and headquartered in Harrisburg, stated that these new restrictions will “make it impossible” to run programs effectively.
“The kindness I received on the phone pierced the veil of darkness, and offered me solutions. I no longer felt so alone, I am grateful to this day for that lifeline.” – A Woman’s Place survivor.
“In Pennsylvania we service nearly 90,000 victims in all 67 counties; funding is critically important especially in rural areas,” said PCADV Director of Communications Michael Waterloo.
The lawsuit coalition represents domestic violence and sexual assault groups from the following states: Rhode Island, which initiated the lawsuit, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. The DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence and California-based Valor US, a nationwide victims of sexual abuse advocacy organization.
The DOJ, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, the OVW and its acting director Ginger Baran Lyons were named defendants in the lawsuit filed in Rhode Island’s District Federal Court. A copy of Democracy Forward’s complaint may be found here.
The lawsuit requests the implementation of “unlawful conditions added by the DOJ” to the program to be stopped. An injunction requested June 26 in Rhode Island federal court seeks to halt the restrictions implementations until the court rules on the grant funding changes.
READ: Groups Helping LGBTQ+ Victims of Violence Could Face a Catastrophic Loss of Federal Funding
“We’ve spent decades building bridges across systems and collaborating in bipartisan efforts to end domestic violence and support the most vulnerable in our communities,” said PCADV CEO Susan Higginbotham. “Now, we’re being told that doing so must come at the cost of silencing voices and erasing identities. That’s unacceptable. Everyone fleeing domestic violence deserves help, dignity, and respect.”
Other coalition partners’ remarks can be found here.
“The new harmful restrictions put grant recipients in impossible situations, asking them to certify that they comply with limitations on their ability to operate as Congress has required – specifically targeting vulnerable populations – or risk penalties under The False Claims Act,” notes Democracy Forward.
“Being in shelter was the first time in my life that I felt safe.” – A Woman’s Place survivor
The False Claims Act of 1863 was originally intended to address defense contractor fraud during the American Civil War, according to the DOJ.
PCADV’s Waterloo said last year 119 people died in Pennsylvania from domestic violence. He added that 827 unmet requests came for domestic violence services in a single day. Over the past 10 years, 1,600 victims in Pennsylvania have died from domestic violence.
“We are backed into a corner, and we have no choice but to go to court,” Waterloo said.
If you live in Bucks County and feel unsafe, are a victim or have been threatened by a domestic partner or other person with whom you live, visit A Woman’s Place website or call its 24/7 free hotline at 800.220.8116. To find your local domestic violence program visit: https://www.pcadv.org/find-help/find-your-local-domestic-violence-program/
