Lifetime movie 'An Amish Sin' aims to shed light on child sexual abuse victims: ‘There’s always hope’

Joanna Yoder, who served as an inspiration for Lifetime's "An Amish Sin," was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 series in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that shared her story.

"I grew up Mennonite, which is very similar to the Amish," Yoder explained to Fox News Digital. "… I was 48 years old when I finally got the courage to go to law enforcement and report the crimes that had happened to me when I was a child. It took me years to get to a place where I felt like I was able to do that. I just wasn’t ready or able [to do it before]. It took me a while to heal from my trauma and the things that had happened. But now, I feel like I have a voice. So I wanted to share my story in hopes of raising awareness." Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com.

Yoder’s story was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2019 series in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that uncovered an unprecedented investigation of child sexual abuse within the Amish and Mennonite communities. Yoder, who grew up in a separatist Mennonite community, alleged that three relatives abused her when she was a child.