National Group Partners with Child Sex Abuse Survivors to Pressure Pennsylvania Legislature

By David Kaplan
WTAE TV
October 3, 2018

https://www.wtae.com/article/national-group-partners-with-child-sex-abuse-survivors-to-pressure-pennsylvania-legislature/23586489

Following a grand jury report detailing sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, survivors and advocates see a unique opportunity; for the first time, they feel like they're being believed and heard.

"I’m here to fight that I may sit in a court of law across from my tormentors so that they can see the effect that the abuse had on my life," said Ryan O'Connor, who said he was raped when he was 4 and 10.

O'Connor told Pittsburgh's Action News 4 he could have never imagined speaking publicly, but knows the world is watching what Pennsylvania does in response to the report.

"It is a unique situation. And I hope Pennsylvania can be the floodgate that opens up so that all the other states in the union can say this isn't OK," O'Connor added.

Pennsylvania's survivors have partnered with Stop Child Predators, a national organization that helps advocate for child sex abuse victims.

The organization's president, Stacie Rumenap, says Stop Child Predators is working with survivors to try and pressure the Legislature as it works to pass a law in the wake of the grand jury report.