In the wake of the shocking grand jury report released this week documenting systemic, repeated abuse of thousands of Pennsylvania children and its cover-up by the Catholic Church, demand that your state legislators take decisive action!
The report recommends correcting major flaws in Pennsylvania law allowing child abusers to avoid legal repercussions for their actions, including to increase the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims to report crimes. (Most of the more than 1,000 victims whose abuse was disclosed by the grand jury have missed their chance to sue their abusers because of these statutes of limitation.)
While you have legislators’ ears, please also ask them to repeal state statutes excluding child abusers from prosecution in cases of religiously-motivated medical neglect, a long-standing problem in your state.
Your lawmakers could quickly fix both problems. Ask them to support SB 261, a bill already in front of the House, to extend statute of limitations until the victim is 50. House bill HB 612 would specifically give victims of the recently-unveiled abuses a two-year window to file suit against abusers.
Legislators can and should also repeal § 6304 to ensure that parents are legally required to provide necessary medical care to children.
Now’s your chance to make a real change to help protect Pennsylvania children. When lawmakers reconvene in September, they need to know their constituents are demanding immediate reform to protect children and repair the state’s tarnished reputaion.
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MESSAGE
Please feel free to cut and paste or cutomize the talking points we’ve provided below.
- As your constituent, I urge you to take two specific actions in response to the shocking grand jury report on the Catholic sexual abuse of thousands of Pennsylvania children and its systematic cover-up.
- First, please support SB 261 so the many victims documented in the report are given a two-year window to pursue lawsuits. I also urge you to support HB 612 and any legislation that removes the statute of limitation in general for child sexual abuse.
- Second please support the repeal of § 6304, which excludes child abusers from legal repurcussions in cases of religiously-motivated medical neglect. Religion is no excuse for child abuse. This statute endangers children and should be repealed as soon as possible.
- Thank you for your time. I hope to see decisive legislative action on both of these issues soon.
