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Contact: Brian Pacheco, Safe Horizon\u2019s Director of Public Relations Survivors of Sex Abuse + Advocates Urge Albany to Stand Up for Children<\/strong><\/p>\n April 28, 2017 (New York, NY)\u2014 As Sexual Assault Awareness month (April) comes to an end, Albany has not done enough to advance the Child Victims Act (CVA): legislation that would lift the 5 year statute of limitation on childhood sexual abuse. The bill has been introduced every year for the past 10 years, but gained new traction in January when Governor Cuomo made it a priority in his State of the State address, saying: \u201cThese survivors deserve justice, plain and simple. Giving victims the opportunity to advance their claims in court is the right thing to do and I urge the Legislature to join me and pass this measure once and for all.<\/em>”<\/p>\n However, just last week the GOP led Senate ducked a vote on the bill by discharging it into the Rules Committee.<\/p>\n Recent reports of abuse from across the state, including Emma Willard School in Troy New York and a children\u2019s camp on Long Island have emboldened advocates and survivors to demand a vote. They join the co-sponsors of the bill Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal and Senator Brad Hoylman, at the Fearless Girl statue in lower Manhattan to call for passage of the CVA this session.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are calling on \u200bNew York Senate to join the Assembly and address the issue of childhood sexual abuse and\u200b to\u200b pass the Child Victims Act (CVA). \u200bStatewide, \u200b\u200bNew York lawmakers have been dodging the issue of childhood sexual abuse for over a decade. I am one of many fearless survivors and we will not be ignored any longer,<\/em>\u201d said survivor Bridie Farrell.<\/p>\n Each year, 40,000 children are sexually abused in New York State \u2013 one in four women and one in six men\u2014yet New York is currently only one of four states in the nation that imposes such strict limits, preventing survivors from seeking civil or criminal penalties against their abusers past the age of 23.\u00a0It can take survivors decades to speak about their abuse.<\/p>\n Advocates also released a video PSA <\/strong>to surface the lived experience of survivors:<\/p>\n
\nt.\u00a0212-577-7709<\/span><\/a>\u00a0| c.\u00a0646-306-1136<\/span><\/a><\/span> | e. Brian.Pacheco@safehorizon.org<\/a><\/p>\n