PHILADELPHIA (PA)
SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [Chicago IL]
March 10, 2021
Months after a bureaucratic SNAFU upended SOL reforms aimed at preventing future cases of child sexual abuse and providing justice and healing to survivors in Pennsylvania, an emergency constitutional amendment is set to be proposed again in Pennsylvania.
HB 14 would provide the same remedy to the archaic statute of limitations laws as the previous reform, and currently House Republicans and Democrats are working to get a Constitutional amendment back on the May ballot. In order to do so, there will need to be a 2/3 majority in both houses for the bill to be declared an emergency. Mike McDonnell, SNAP Philadelphia, and Mary McHale, SNAP Reading, joined other advocates in a conference call today, March 10th, along with CHILD USA advocates and legal scholars Marci Hamilton, Esq. and Kathryn Robb, Esq. The call highlighted the continued need to contact state legislators and urge them to support HB14.
The fact is that survivors and advocates have been fighting for nearly two decades in Pennsylvania to pass meaningful reform to the state’s statute of limitations. We know that whatever remedy is proposed will be fought tooth and nail by institutions like the Catholic Church, which has already spent millions to defeat similar legislation in the past.
“SNAP Leaders in Pennsylvania are calling on all state legislators to right a wrong and do the next right thing for survivors,” said Mike McDonnell, SNAP Philadelphia. “Children deserve to be protected and survivors deserve to have their day in court, and so we hope that every elected official statewide will stand on the side of prevention and justice and fully support HB 14.”
CONTACT: Michael McDonnell, SNAP Philadelphia Leader (mcdo1268@gmail.com, 267-261-0578), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (zhiner@snapnetwork.org, 517-974-9009)
(SNAP, the Survivors Network, has been providing support for victims of sexual abuse in institutional settings for 30 years. We have more than 25,000 survivors and supporters in our network. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)