‘Here we are’: Sexual assault survivors, victim advocates call on Pa. lawmakers to pass budget as funding holdup imperils rape crisis centers

Maria Gardner sat in an exam room at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, having arrived a short time earlier in a police car after being sexually assaulted as she walked along the Allegheny Riverfront Trail during a lunch break in August 2021. 

Feeling alone and traumatized by what had just occurred, she didn’t know what would happen next.

That’s when an advocate from Pittsburgh Action Against Rape entered the room, who explained the medical, legal and recovery process and offered to support Gardner at every step – if that’s what she wanted.

“That I could make decisions about what happened next to my own body had not occurred to me,” Gardner said. “Her advocacy restored my sense of agency, which had been taken from me the moment I encountered my assaulter. And her presence reminded me I was no longer on my own.”    

Gardner was among dozens of sexual assault survivors, victim advocates and supporters who met Thursday at the portico of the City-County Building, Downtown, to urge state legislators to immediately pass a budget so that the 47 rape crisis centers across Pennsylvania get much needed funding. Now, 108 days into the budget impasse, the services these centers provide, such as call centers, therapy and financial aid, face severe cuts.

Yolanda Edrington, CEO of Respect Together, said rape crisis centers have had flat funding for the past five years despite growing needs, and the budget impasse has pushed them “past their breaking point.”

“To survive, centers are maxing out their credit cards, taking out loans – and I want to remind people the interest money on those loans cannot be paid back with grant money – and cutting staff to keep life-saving services running,” Edrington said. “Every day this budget remains unfinished, survivors pay the price.”     

One center already making difficult financial decisions is AWARE Inc., of Mercer County, where the entire staff has been moved to part time to meet payroll, according to Megan McConahy, the center’s executive director.

AWARE serves more than 500 sexual assault survivors each year by providing them with emergency shelter, advocacy, housing and more, McConahy said. She said she talks to survivors every day who are at risk of being evicted or have their utilities shut off. 

“I should be able to help them, but I cannot,” she said.

Because of the money being held up between the state budget impasse and the federal government shutdown, AWARE’s funding sources are almost entirely gone, and more services are at risk of ending.

“We would not be in this position if not for the state budget impasse. To the governor and the Legislature, I say this: Do your jobs,” McConahy said, garnering applause and cheers from those gathered around. “Show up, sit down, compromise and pass this budget. Survivors deserve better.”

State Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, said she keeps hearing talk from Senate Republicans about passing a budget that’s responsible. But, she asked, “Tell me what exactly is responsible about being more than 100 days past the deadline? 

“You shouldn’t have to borrow money that you were constitutionally owed in June,” Williams told the advocates.

Williams said she has gone onto the Senate floor to bring attention to the impact that the impasse has had on families, students, small businesses, health care providers, counties and more.

Despite that, she acknowledged there’s still no end to the impasse in sight. 

“It is incredibly unfortunate that dozens of rape crisis centers across the commonwealth have been impacted by Senate Republicans’ failure to act,” said Rosie Lapowsky, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, in a statement. “The way to fund these critical services is for Senate Republicans to come back to work and send a budget to the governor’s desk.”

State Sen. Joe Pittman, R-White Township, the Senate majority leader, in a statement blamed the impasse on Democrats, saying that the budget the governor put forward is too expensive and his Democratic colleagues refuse to compromise.

Questions sent to the office of Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield and Senate president pro tempore, were not immediately answered. 

For Gardner, the services rape crisis centers provide are life saving. Sexual assault survivors are called survivors, she said, because not all of them make it. 

What’s more, she added, is that the centers are a boon for public safety. Her PAAR advocate stayed with her through the legal process, which saw the man who assaulted her convicted and sentenced to a multi-decade prison term. 

Gardner said she’s not sure that would have happened if her advocate didn’t stay by her side the entire time. She said her advocate even went as far as physically placing herself between Gardner and her assailant in court.

And while it’s not right that she even has to be in the position where it’s necessary for her to speak up, Gardner said, this issue is too important to ignore.    

“Survivors of sexual violence should not need to publicly lay bare their most vulnerable moments to compel Pennsylvania legislators to pass the state budget,” Gardner said. “And yet, here we are.”