HARRISBURG (PA)
PHhiladelphia Inquirer
May 5, 2019
By Angela Couloumbis and Liz Navratil
When child sexual-abuse victims and their advocates reunited on the Capitol steps last month to rally for the right to sue their violators, something didn’t look quite right.
Glaringly absent was State Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Reading Democrat who has for years been the legislature’s loudest advocate for changing the law to give older victims of childhood sexual abuse two more years to bring civil claims. The idea has gained urgency amid the child sexual-abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic Church.
Rozzi’s absence hinted at an unspoken divide that has emerged between the lawmaker and some in the victim community who once considered him their champion. Those victims, advocates say, feel betrayed and abandoned by him.
And as the issue has once again landed in the legislature, the question looming is whether the disagreement will hamper victims in their already-uphill push for changes in Pennsylvania’s law.
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