PA Lawmaker Pushes For End Of 'Voluntary Intoxication Loophole'

HARRISBURG, PA — In the mounting furor over the Cornell University gang rape scandal, a Pennsylvania lawmaker wants to close the state's "voluntary intoxication loophole" that makes it harder to successfully prosecute sexual assault cases.

State Rep. Lisa Borowski, a Delaware County Democrat, said she plans to introduce legislation that would eliminate the loophole that she called "a dangerous gap in Pennsylvania's criminal statutes...which currently limits justice for victims of sexual assault.

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According to CNN, the "loophole" or "exclusion" exists in about 19 states across the country - including New York, where the Cornell incident occurred.

In New York, a person is guilty of rape if they have sexual contact with someone who is "incapable of consent by reason of being mentally disabled or mentally incapacitated."

But a person is only considered mentally incapacitated under the state law if they had been given a narcotic or other substance given to them without their consent.

In the 2024 Cornell instance, the victim, known in court documents as Jane Doe, drank alcohol willingly before going to to the fraternity house where the gang rape by fraternity members allegedly occurred. She then said she was pressured into taking ketamine, which the Drug Enforcement Administration says "distorts perceptions of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected and not in control."

Jane Doe went to the police after the incident, but criminal charges were not brought against the seven men she has accused in a lawsuit of assaulting her. The woman recently sued the university, seven former students, the fraternity and others.

The assault has garnered national attention and has prompted protests on the Cornell campus.

Borowski said the current Pennsylvania law is similar to New York's statutes and make sexual assault cases more difficult to prosecute if the victim was voluntarily intoxicated, even when they weren't capable of consent.

"This outdated provision fails to reflect modern understanding of consent and undermines protections for some of the most vulnerable individuals in our communities," she stated in a recent memo to colleagues.

Borowski said her legislation will:

• Clarify the definition of consent to explicitly include situations where a person is unable to consent due to intoxication, regardless of whether the intoxication was voluntary or involuntary.

• Align Pennsylvania law with the majority of states that recognize incapacitation from alcohol or drugs as a valid basis for lack of consent.

• Ensure survivors are not re‑victimized by legal technicalities that shift blame away from perpetrators.

"This reform is not about changing the burden of proof — it is about ensuring our laws reflect the principle that consent must be knowing, voluntary, and conscious," she said. "No one should be able to exploit another person's impaired state to commit sexual assault without full accountability under the law."