PENNSYLVANIA
ABC 27
By Dennis Owens
Published: October 20, 2016
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Victims of sexual abuse are anxious.
Some say they are being re-victimized by a legislature split on a bill that would let them sue their abusers.
That bill, House Bill 1947, is in jeopardy with just three days left in the legislative session despite the fact that most lawmakers agree on most everything that’s in it.
Shaun Dougherty was in the Capitol advocating for HB 1947 this week. He was molested by a priest named in the attorney general’s report about the Johnstown-Altoona Catholic diocese.
“He sexually abused me; stair stepping from tickling to patting to fondling to groping to digital penetration,” Shaun said.
Shaun was 10 when the abuse started in 1980. The statute of limitations has expired for him to bring a civil suit. The House version of 1947 would extend the civil statute of limitations for future victims to the age of 50 and would also make it retroactive for people like Shaun.
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