Harrisburg Republicans playing political games with childhood sexual abuse survivors

Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus    March 22, 2021

HARRISBURG, March 22 – Following weeks of inaction on a time-sensitive emergency constitutional amendment to give childhood sexual abuse survivors more time to file a civil lawsuit, House Democratic leaders issued the following statement rebuking a broken commitment by Republican leadership:

“It’s incredibly frustrating to us and downright disrespectful to survivors of childhood sexual abuse that when given the opportunity this week to correct an error and give survivors a chance to seek justice and have their voices heard, Republican leadership instead decided to play political games and ignore an emergency constitutional amendment. Let us be clear, this legislation was already agreed to in multiple sessions and passed multiple times by both the House and the Senate.

“But today, rather than help the victims of childhood sexual abuse, Republicans decided to do nothing but point fingers in the name of political games. In early February, the House Majority Leader stood on the House floor and made a commitment to getting this legislation through the House and over to the Senate, where he claimed it also had support. Obviously, that was a lie. They can’t hide that their actions this week broke a public promise made to the survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

“We’ve heard countless heartbreaking stories from these survivors, including from our own colleagues. We only wish that Republicans hadn’t pulled the rug out from underneath these efforts for justice at the last possible moment and further delayed this reckoning.”