‘A moral imperative’: Shapiro touts $12M increase for rape crisis centers

In a visit to the Carlisle YWCA on Monday, Gov. Josh Shapiro celebrated a $12 million increase in state funding for rape crisis centers across the state, calling it a “moral imperative” that was necessary to support survivors of sexual violence. 

This year’s state budget includes a total of $24.1 million for rape crisis centers, which is nearly double last year’s allocation of $12.1 million. Shapiro said the $24 million figure is the “highest amount ever recorded” for rape crisis centers in Pennsylvania history. 

“Centers like this provide 24/7 support for survivors of sexual assault all across Pennsylvania,” the governor said at a press conference on Monday. “When someone calls on the absolute worst day of their life looking for support, it’s people here, and places like this, who show up to offer them support.”

According to the Shapiro administration, the state has 47 rape crisis centers that serve all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Pennsylvania Secretary of Human Services Dr. Val Arkoosh noted that rape crisis centers serve approximately 26,000 Pennsylvanians each year, including approximately 6,000 children. 

Pennsylvania’s rape crisis centers provide free, around-the-clock counseling to victims and survivors of sexual violence; coordinate with schools and other organizations on prevention education; and provide services to friends, families and partners of victims. 

“These funds will be used for more therapy, more education, more prevention, and more support for survivors who are ready to reach out and ask for help,” Shapiro said. “Doubling this funding was a moral imperative.”

In addition to Arkoosh, Shapiro was joined by Andrea Greene, a board member at YWCA Carlisle & Cumberland County, who detailed her own experiences with childhood sexual violence. Greene said she tried to find help while in elementary school, but that her “small flame of hope was extinguished.”

“The $12 million in funding you secured is critical, as it enables rape crisis centers across the commonwealth to educate young people to say no and to ask for help,” Greene said. “With this funding, we continue to draw a line in the sand and say: ‘Not one more child, woman or man suffers on our watch.’ Today, Gov. Shapiro, thanks to you, our flame of hope burns bright.” 

Pressing for action on statute of limitations window

Shapiro said the state can do more to support victims of sexual abuse – namely, by passing legislation that would create a two-year window for child sexual-abuse survivors to file civil lawsuits against their abusers. 

The proposal is one that comes recommended by the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, which investigated and uncovered widespread instances of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. 

Lawmakers previously advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would have given survivors a two-year window for civil suits, but an advertising error at the Pennsylvania Department of State derailed the constitutional amendment process. Since then, lawmakers have been unable to reach agreement on whether to advance a bill or a constitutional amendment to create the two-year window.

Lawmakers have attempted to advance legislation that would require passage by both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor’s signature to create the two-year window. However, others, including current Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, have said that enshrining the two-year window into the state constitution, rather than state law, would provide the strongest legal avenue for survivors. 

In 2021, Ward said, “The strongest legal position to bring closure to this matter and allow all victims (public and private) of childhood sexual abuse to face their abusers is via constitutional amendment.” In order to appear on the ballot for voters to decide on, proposed amendments to the state constitution must be passed by state lawmakers in back-to-back legislative sessions. 

On Monday, Shapiro accused Senate Republicans of caving to the Catholic Church and the insurance lobby. 

“I’ve been very, very clear over and over and over again that the conduct of the Senate Republican leadership to cower in the face of opposition from the Catholic Church and the insurance lobby is cowardice and it’s shameful, and they need to put this up for a vote,” Shapiro said.  

“It is morally reprehensible that for years and years and years – since the grand jury met and issued its report, since I’ve called on this to act – that they’ve continued to put the donors of the Insurance Federation and the pressure of the Catholic lobby ahead of doing the right thing by victims,” the governor added. “That’s not political. That’s the reality of what they chose.”